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Lions reared for commercial use at Bona Bona Game Farm in Wolmaransstad, southeast of Johannesburg. STEPHANE OF SAKUTIN / afp
Lawmakers in South Africa will work to end lions breeding for trophy hunting and trade in their bones, placing Parliament on a collision course with a powerful industry.
South Africa has up to 8,000 lions in captivity bred for hunting, bone trading, tourism and university research, according to wildlife group estimates.
On the other hand, there are only 3,000 lions in the wild living in the national parks of the country where hunting is prohibited.
Trophy hunting is a $ 36 million industry, but parliamentarians have been encouraged by high-profile global campaigns to demand its demise.
A committee of legislators charged with monitoring environmental affairs recommended on November 12 that the government reconsider the rules governing the breeding of captive lions for hunting and bone harvesting.
World trade in lions' body parts killed in the wild is prohibited by international treaties – but allowed for captive-bred animals.
MEPs decided that ministers should consider the issue "with the aim of ending this practice".
The decision came after two days of close talks between MPs, livestock breeders and animal welfare activists.
Legislators also want the government to "reconsider" its recent decision to almost double the quota of 1,500 skeletons of lions that can be traded legally this year.
In the last decade, South Africa has exported feline bones to Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian markets for jewelery and their properties. supposed medicinal.
"South Africa allows a practice to which everyone turns their backs. As a country, we must find a solution to improve the situation, "said Phillemon Mapulane, chairman of the Parliament's Environment Committee.
He added that the country's strong reputation for conservation was compromised by the situation.
"[It undermines] wider conservation but [benefits] a small number of breeders lacking scientific basis or appropriate conservation, "said Mapulane.
"The industry is seriously damaging the brand, South Africa."
Derek Hanekom, who was acting environment minister when Parliament made his recommendations, announced to AFP that he was going to set up a special working group to look into the rules relating to breeding.
"We are finalizing the mandate of the group that will investigate and make recommendations on these issues," he said.
The practice of hunting lions bred in captivity has long been the subject of controversy in South Africa, where a large number of animals are confined in enclosures surrounded by electric fences.
Former Environment Minister Edna Molewa, who died earlier this year, warned that changing the rules could create a situation in which "thousands of lions would have no value and no income".
She also warned that jobs could be lost if the 300 or so lions breeding facilities in the country were closed and trade banned.
Although the industry generates significant tax revenue every year, activists have described it as "unethical".
Campaigns to ban trophies of captive lions have grown in Australia, France, the Netherlands and the United States in recent years.
In 2016, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature invited South Africa to end the practice of hunting captive bred lions.
In September, Singapore Airlines, which was the only airline involved in transporting lion bones from South Africa to Southeast Asia, announced that it would only carry more controversial cargo.
The industry warns against job losses
"This industry is nothing but a scourge in the conservation pedigree that South Africa should be able to claim," said Yolan Friedman, chief executive officer of the Endangered Wildlife Trust. .
"The captive predator breeding industry in South Africa is cruel, serves no conservation purpose, and is damaging South Africa's reputation as a wildlife tourism destination," said Mark Jones. of the Born Free charity, based in Great Britain.
Paul Funston, senior director of wildcat protection group Panthera, warned that the government's review might be too vague to make a difference.
"There is no clear directive for change, it is not a binding directive. We are a little disappointed by the fact that this is not an immediate call to shut down the industry, "Funston said.
But Kirsten Nematandani, president of the Association of South African Predators, warned that if Parliament's recommendations were implemented, "that would mean thousands of jobs will be lost."
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