How many more lions must we lose before hunting is stopped?

In a nutshell, the concept of “canned hunting” of lions means that the “trophy” shot by the hunter has been raised through a captive breeding programme.

LION AID™ is not advocating the practice of “canned lion” hunting, but at the same time we would like to see trophy hunting of all wild lions stopped. We would like to see a situation where African nations clearly designate areas where they are committed to conserve lions, and then to put in place nationally relevant programmes to protect the species.

The concept of “canned hunting” of animals like lions has recently come under a microscope dialed to the optical level of “extensive scrutiny”.

In a nutshell, the concept of “canned hunting” of lions means that the “trophy” shot by the hunter has been raised through a captive breeding programme. There are many of these in South Africa, for example, where breeding populations of lions are kept in enclosures, and their offspring offered to sale for “hunters” who arrive at the game ranch/breeding facility.
They get taken to a pre-arranged area where the captive bred lion has been conveniently installed, level their high-powered rifles, and take home their wall-hanging, eventually artfully rendered by a taxidermist.
Secondary “canned hunting” schemes have been devised by clever operators who lure wild lions from protected areas into their hunting concessions by providing carcasses and playing calls over loudspeakers to attract them over the boundary.

This secondary activity should be identified for the criminal act it is, and perpetrators prosecuted.

But basically, the “canned hunting” operators working from captive bred animals are providing a desired product for the national (in this case, let’s say South African) and international markets. This needs to be accepted as a fact. Whether the eventual trophy room is located in Spain, Germany, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, or Houston, and whether the contact with the client is by internet or phone or by word of mouth or by international hunting meetings held yearly at Las Vegas, the demand for lion trophies is there.

How much do you have to pay for that trophy on your wall? Well, let’s say you wanted to hunt a wild male lion in Botswana. Probably you would have to debit your bank account for well over $150,000 before you could proudly introduce friends to your latest wall decoration. Of course, if you shopped around, maybe attended auctions by hunting companies, and did not mind traveling to African destinations identified with civil strife, corrupt wildlife departments and politicians, your trophy lion could be hanging there for a bit less.
But your best bet in terms of economy remains the “canned lion”.
Captive bred, staked out, you are taken there by vehicle, you are back at your camp for lunch, and the stories about the trophy on the wall are yours to invent and embellish. In terms of skill, prowess, proficiency and expertise on the part of the hunter, this probably ranks right up there with shooting fish in a barrel or a cow in a field.

Canned lion hunts have been revealed, regaled, and reviled on television and in print. South Africa is attempting to construct legislation to severely restrict the activity, but will probably settle for a watered-down version that will still allow canned hunts.
There are powerful lobbies at work there, and pragmatists know that ethical principles usually bow to commerce.

Controversial as the activity is in terms of public opinion, there are aspects of canned lion hunting that are defensible. First, these animals are actually the property of the breeder, as much so as the impalas, kudu, wildebeest and blesbok on the game ranch. There are probably over 10,000 game ranches in South Africa alone, established to provide wildlife trophies and game meat for a hungry demand by consumers. Restaurants and upscale supermarkets as far away as London and Copenhagen serve meat from African species. Crocodile and ostrich farms sell meat and skins on the national and international markets.
Game ranching and game farming is a well-established business all over the world (you can buy kangaroo and American buffalo (bison) meat as well), so given that all these animals are raised in captivity for the sole purpose of their eventual demise (like cows, pigs, chinchillas, minks, foxes, chickens, ducks, geese, salmon etc involved in more traditional farming), can we actually say that a captive-raised lion destined for an eventual demise is any different philosophically from a lamb led to slaughter?

Continuing to play Devil’s Advocate, is it not better to equip the trophy rooms of the world with whole mounts, skins, and glass-eyed heads of lions bred in captivity rather than “collecting” them from the ever-diminishing wild populations? From 200,000 lions in the wild in the 1960’s, we are now left with perhaps 20,000 on the entire continent. You could put the entire African wild lion population into a single stadium where people come to watch the Yankees, Manchester United, Wimbledon, or the Dallas Cowboys. Oh, and there would still be plenty of empty seats – many Kenyan and Nigerian lions who booked their tickets a few years ago, for example, are no longer able to attend as they are now dead.

Conservation of lions in the wild is a very difficult issue. Overall, lions are declining in the wild due to loss of habitat, conflict with humans and livestock, diseases, and trophy hunting pressure. We estimate there are possibly only 6 populations that can be considered “long-term viable”. These are the populations with over 1000 lions still remaining in places like Tanzania, Botswana, and Kruger Park in South Africa. So from 20,000 lions added together on the continent, we are now down to a handful of populations that might actually ensure the survival of the species.

LION AID™ is not advocating the practice of “canned lion” hunting, but at the same time we would like to see trophy hunting of all wild lions stopped. We would like to see a situation where African nations clearly designate areas where they are committed to conserve lions, and then to put in place nationally relevant programmes to protect the species.
In this scenario, any hunting scheme that will decrease pressure on wild lion populations seems to us to be welcome. In the hunting industry, morals and ethics in terms of hunting wild lions have long gone out the window.
You simply cannot justify continued hunting of a species that has declined by more than 80% in the past fifty years by invoking benefits to local communities and by mentioning that areas leased to hunters increase the scope of habitat available to wildlife beyond that available in protected areas.
We are sure that there are many ethical hunters that would like to see their activities contribute overall to the conservation of the species in their sights.
But for every one of those there are many more who don’t give a damn, and the African professional hunting industry apparently cannot or will not reject their lucre.

So how strongly do we want to oppose the moral and ethical issues of “canned” lion hunting versus those of shooting lions in the wild?
Let’s have your opinions. And in the mean time, if you are fortunate enough to see a wild lion on your safari, remember that this magnificent animal is probably living on borrowed time unless all of us consider informed options and come up with relevant solutions……

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