CANNED HUNTING - THE LEGACY OF CALLOUSNESS AND GREED

The human animal has always tended to sport his manliness by vanquishing the weaker or defenceless. In an earlier civilization this resulted in the scalping of the vanquished, these scalps to be taken as trophies. Modern man has not evolved much. From the Nazi lampshades purportedly made from human skin, it is now the heads of defenceless animals that are mounted on walls as proof of male dominance.

In 1997, Roger Cook, producer of the British investigative television documentary The Cook Report, investigated the killing of rare wild animals in the name of sport. Posing as a tourist-hunter in South Africa, he was taken on a hunt for lions and tigers – the latter specially imported for the purpose. The documentary exposed more than just blood lust. It also exposed the despicable and clandestine activity known as 'canned hunting,' whereby captive-bred lions were let loose in an enclosure from which they had nowhere to flee and where they were shot by khaki clad 'hunters' from overseas. Many of them were not even good shots and after one or two wounding attempts the hapless animal would be put out of its misery by an accompanying hunter. But this was after all what they paid good money for, as well as being able to pose for the camera with one intrepid foot on the slaughtered animal, at an angle which did not show the fence in the background. One particularly poignant scene showed a lioness who had been separated from her cubs, being shot several times while attempting to get to her babies.

The resultant public uproar did nothing for South Africa's image overseas, and there were calls to have 'canned hunting' banned, not only because of its ethical but also ecological and biological implications. The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) then resorting under Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk, also joined in the condemnation, but was subsequently accused by Animal Rights Africa and others of 'double speak'. With all the spin and fanfare put out by the government, the general public was lulled into thinking that canned lion hunting was indeed being banned but the industry, far from being controlled, grew exponentially, with the active support from the government. And it was not only confined to the hunting of large predators – elephants, rhinos, buffaloes and antelope species were also hunted in this way. Between 2007 and 2008 the number of lions trophy hunted and killed by the predator industry doubled. Captive lion breeding farms mushroomed. The government played a double game. On the one hand they made public announcements that they were going to 'put an end, once and for all, to the reprehensible practice of canned hunting' and that after 1 June 2007 there would be no more canned hunting of large animals in South Africa, while on the other hand providing the predator breeding industry with loopholes that would allow this reprehensible industry to continue and expand.

Loophole 1: The NEMBA Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) is a flawed and inadequate legislation that does not ban canned predator hunting but merely attempts to regulate it.

Loophole 2: Inexplicably postponing the implementation of TOPS from June 2007 to February 2008, thereby giving the South African Predator Breeders Association the opportunity to challenge TOPS before it came into force.

Loophole 3: Excluding lions from the definition for listed large predators of the TOPS legislation promulgated in February 2008, supposedly while the South African Predator Breeders'Association court

case against the Minister was pending.

Furthermore, as recently as 9 July 2008 the Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi unequivocally assured them that "government does appreciate the existence of the industry and that there is no way that the regulations will eventually lead to its closure as the industry is an accepted part of the tourism experience package that South Africa markets."

Eventually, on Thursday 11th June 2009 judgment was given in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein when Judge Ian van der Merwe concurred with the government that biodiversity must be protected and that the breeding of lions in captivity with the sole purpose of canned hunting did not aid their protection. The verdict was that these semi-tame animals may only be hunted 24 months after being set free from their breeding cages. The lion breeders' request that the period of 24 months in the regulations be changed to 'a few days' was dismissed with costs.

Reason to celebrate? Hold on to your hats and brollies! Whilst the verdict is welcomed, there are still some very serious gaps. There is no stipulation as to the size of the encampment into which the animals are to be released after being set free. So they could still be released into quite a small area from which they have no way of escaping. Furthermore, these are semi-tamed, hand reared animals and those who are involved with the rehabilitation of lions will agree that a lion that has been hand reared and thus human imprinted will never be able to be truly wild and fend for itself as a lion should. Also, how on earth would this be enforced? Surely not by the conservation officials, most of whom are hunters themselves and are widely suspected to be hand-in-glove with the breeding fraternity?

The bottom line is that the lion breeders have now escalated to 123 and there are 3000 canned lions waiting to be, well, canned. This situation could have been avoided. Attempts many years ago by Animal Rights Africa (ARA) and others to persuade DEAT to support a plan that would address the ethical and welfare concerns for the predators still caught up in the industry, fell on deaf ears.

And the industry has not been slow to engage in the emotional terrorism of pointing out that '5000 breadwinners will lose their jobs and 3000 semi-tamed lions will have be put down.'

Says Paul Hart of the Drakenstein Lion Park: 'This ploy to gain public sympathy is ridiculous in the extreme, especially coming from people who breed lions for the express purpose of killing them in a variety of gruesome ways, such as shooting arrows into them, setting packs of dogs on them and blasting away at them with high powered rifles.'

Meanwhile, the breeders will no doubt play for even more time by going to the various courts of appeal, a process which could take many years, while the problem continues to escalate.

Says Michele Pickover of ARA 'Quite clearly this is all about profits and greed, while what it should be about, is the animals.'

Until the property status of animals gives way to a classification of 'sentient beings' animal cruelty will continue.