The cruel bow hunting of animals has always been abhorrent to most and a recent undercover video of a lion, bow hunted in 'canned' fashion and showing on You Tube has once again caused an international outcry. So it was timeous that Gareth Patterson, Warrior for the Wild, award winning author, environmentalist and independent wildlife researcher, should visit the Helderberg as guest of the U3A in the Strand Town Hall on Wednesday 8th May.
His talk entitled Inspiration from the Wilds – a life with the lions and elephants of Africa was a condensed version of his latest autobiographical book which describes his work with both lions and elephants. In the latter case Gareth went on to prove that the Knysna elephants, considered functionally extinct, still existed.
The field work for this independent study lasted seven years, and necessitated that he cover thousands of kilometres on foot, following ancient elephant paths through the dense Knysna forest and surrounding mountain fynbos. He wrote up his journey in his 2009 book The Secret Elephants.
However, it is his 1998 book Dying to be Free which describes in detail the Canned Lion scandal which rocked the world through the 1997 British investigative television documentary The Cook Report.
Gareth, known as "Ra de Tau," father of lions as he came to be called in Botswana, was born in Britain but taken over to Africa by his parents when he was just a small baby. He developed a deep love for Africa and considers this his home.
The late George Adamson of 'Born Free' fame had a big influence on him since his ninth birthday when his mother gave him a game reserve which she had made out of paper-maché . It had mountains and water holes and plastic animals and a little zebra striped land rover. e never imagined She also gave him George Adamson's first autobiography called "Bwana Game." Obviously as a child he never imagined that one day he would work for Adamson and then, after Adamson's murder by ivory poachers, would rescue his last lion orphans and eventually rehabilitate them back into the wild.
Living in the Botswana Tuli bushlands as a member of the pride of lions consisting of the orphan cubs – the male Batian and his two sisters Furaha and Rafiki was an intensely spiritual experience: "In that period I learned fellowship. I was totally immersed into their world and though I had studied them before that experience it really allowed me to enter the world of lions. I was seeing the world through their eyes. I was spending far more time in the world of lions than I was in the world of human beings. It was a very privileged time," says Gareth.
But with that privilege came a lot of pain. There were several deaths. He lost his Lion son Batian to trophy hunters and then Furaha and two of their cubs were shot. But Rafiki lived on to produce several litters and her descendants are still out there today.
Meanwhile, early in 1991 Gareth learned that for the past two years hunters in the Eastern Cape had used bows and arrows to kill lions- with the Department of Nature Conservation's approval, it seemed. Some time later an undercover videotape came to hand which showed the sickening scene of a 'canned' trophy hunt at the Marlothi game farm situated close to the Kruger National Park's southern boundary.
A lioness, in the prime of her life and with three suckling cubs still dependent on her, was removed from an enclosure. Refusing to leave her cubs, she was 'hunted' on the other side of the electric fence, by a German client accompanied by a professional hunter. True to form the grinning client posed hunter style for a photograph with his trophy. In the skinning shed, the milk was shown pouring from her teats.
Having gathered the necessary proof, it was time to approach the investigative Cook report team in Britain who decided to send an undercover hunting team to South Africa. The wealthy but unwell 'client' was in fact to be Roger Cook himself, the programme's veteran investigative journalist. And so Roger Cook and his team entered the sordid and secret world of the canned lion industry right up to the point where the client was supposed to pull the trigger and shoot a drugged lion. At that point Cook revealed himself.
The resultant film sent shock waves through the world including South Africa. But the secret industry is clearly still thriving as shown by the recent video on You Tube.
Patterson's investigations showed the link between game farms, breeding facilities, zoos and circuses whence the lions for trophies are sourced. And also the lion baiting, where wild lions are lured from conservancies such as the Kruger National Park. The industry includes the petting of 'orphan' cubs at game farms by the general public who never stop to question what happened to the cubs' mothers or what happens to the cubs once they reach adulthood.
His investigations show how all hunting in South Africa is canned. and cannot be compared to hunting in the vast stretches of wild Africa one reads about in the history books. "Game Farmsare small areas which have been stocked with wild animals bought at game auctions," he says.
A recent Supreme Court of Appeal ruling held that lion farming was Mero Motu i.e. "a closed circuit" and that since no captive bred lions have ever been released back to the wild, lion farming had nothing to do with conservation.
Gareth feels that what is needed is a shift away from the 'sustainable use' notion that drives the hunting industry today, the mindset of 'if it pays it stays' which condemns wild animals to be viewed in economical terms rather than having an intrinsic value.
If the demand dries up perhaps game famers might become motivated to form conservancies with their neighbours for eco-tourism by dropping boundary fences to create wild areas where the natural full spectrum of species, including the predators, can once again exist. This is the world he would like to see.
Meanwhile, this strong but sensitive man who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder consequent to the horrors he experienced, but having spent seven restorative years in the Knysna forest on the trail of the Secret Elephants, is ready to take on the lion issue again, spurred on by his motto: "Never Give Up."
