Judgement Spells End for Canned Lion Hunting

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Sackboy

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Ruling on canned hunting welcomed
BLOEMFONTEIN, SOUTH AFRICA Jun 12 2009 16:13

A court ruling that could spell the end of trophy hunting of captive bred lions in South Africa was welcomed by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) on Friday.

EWT spokesperson Yolan Friedmann said the finding by the Free State High Court, which upholds the provision of the Threatened or Protected Species (ToPS) regulations, could effectively put an end to canned lion hunting in the country.

"We welcome this judgment and believe that the principles of ethical, humane treatment of all species should never be compromised for the economic enrichment of a few, as has been the case with canned hunting practices in South Africa."

The case involved a court challenge by a group of South African lion breeders to the validity of certain provisions of ToPS regulations, drafted in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act.

The regulations that were challenged dealt with trophy hunting of captive bred lions -- commonly called "canned lion hunting".

The lion breeders wanted the provision requiring captive bred lions to be set free 24 months before being hunted to be removed.

Friedman said the high court ruling supported a widely held view that the hunting of lions bred and raised in captivity was "abhorrent and repulsive".

The judgment held that on the facts of the case there was no procedural unfairness in the development of ToPS regulations.

The court also found it was practically and physically possible to comply with the provision requiring captive bred lions to be set free 24 months before being hunted.

The argument by the lion breeders that the financial implications of this provision were too onerous were not relevant to the matter.

The breeders' application was dismissed with costs.

Friedman urged the South African government to immediately look into the fate of the estimated 4 000 lions currently in captive breeding facilities across the country.

"We urge the government to immediately begin a process of addressing this situation, to avert a welfare crisis in which these animals could fall prey to neglect and further cruel treatment if they have now lost their economic value to the breeders."

Reacting to the judgment, the Department of Environmental Affairs indicated it would get rid of canned lion hunting and clean up the hunting industry.

"It must be free of unacceptable conduct," spokesperson Albi Modise said in a statement.

"Hunting is an important industry, but we must manage it in accordance with defensible standards." -- Sapa
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-06-12-ruling-on-canned-hunting-welcomed
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About time.
 
Good! I'm glad. If foreigners wanna shoot something let them shoot taxi drivers.

btw, shouldn't this be in current affairs?
 
Canned lion? Didn't know that exists. I know about canned baked beans, tuna, pilchards, tomato paste, peas, bully beef, sweetcorn, sliced peaches, coca-cola, briyani, noodles, soup, mushrooms, baking powder, asparagus, pink salmon, cherries, cocktail viennas, dog and cat food, koffiehuis, jam, syrup...
 
Sackboy said:
About time.
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I don’t disagree at all. However, I am in dither mode because the gene line is imperilled. A similar situation exists in the anti-fur campaigns. There is an effort to make animal fur coats unfashionable (which has succeeded to an extent) because the conditions at mink (for e.g.) farms are horrendous. There is not enough wild mink to support demand. Mink habitat is encroached upon. It can be argued that the line is being preserved via the mink farms which only operate because of demand. Remove demand – no more mink farms – no more wild mink (habitat destruction) – no more mink gene line. Catch 22. Dither.

Maybe canned hunting is in a similar catch 22 situation. Remove canned hunting – no more demand – habitat destruction – gene line dies. Dither.
 
I'm not sure thats a good thing... (banning canned hunting)

The idea repulses me.. shooting a caged animal (be it a very big cage) is something only a coward would do.

BUT: will banning something thats obviously in demand only force it underground? Being now illegal the price will shoot up, the conditions of the caged animals will worsen, ect, ect.

My thought on this is: Regulate it. Lay a hefly licence fee on canned hunting that the customer must pay even before he fires a shot. That fee (corruption aside) should be used to outfit a department of the "Fish and Wildlife Agency"
that woudl make sure that the lions live in happyness untill such day as it gets ugly...

This would avoid situations where "the lion just ran into that camp..." and keep the whole distastefull thing out in the open where we can expose the cowards and make sure that the lions are well cared for.
 
Palimino said:
I don’t disagree at all. However, I am in dither mode because the gene line is imperilled. A similar situation exists in the anti-fur campaigns. There is an effort to make animal fur coats unfashionable (which has succeeded to an extent) because the conditions at mink (for e.g.) farms are horrendous. There is not enough wild mink to support demand. Mink habitat is encroached upon. It can be argued that the line is being preserved via the mink farms which only operate because of demand. Remove demand – no more mink farms – no more wild mink (habitat destruction) – no more mink gene line. Catch 22. Dither.

Maybe canned hunting is in a similar catch 22 situation. Remove canned hunting – no more demand – habitat destruction – gene line dies. Dither.
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If endangered animals are seen merely as a trophy we will will never get anywhere. We need to get across to people that our grandchildren will never know what a real lion looks like if we carry on in this way. This is our heritage. I would make it impossible to own such an animal, illegal to mistreat it, to trade in animal parts etc.. with VERY stiff fines. That's the only way.
 
Sackboy said:
If endangered animals are seen merely as a trophy we will will never get anywhere. We need to get across to people that our grandchildren will never know what a real lion looks like if we carry on in this way. This is our heritage. I would make it impossible to own such an animal, illegal to mistreat it, to trade in animal parts etc.. with VERY stiff fines. That's the only way.
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As laudable as this is, it doesn’t remove the catch 22 component. If you ‘make it impossible to own such an animal (heavy monitoring anyway), illegal to mistreat it (reasonable), to trade in animal parts etc.. with VERY stiff fines’, it is the way to make the trade unprofitable. No more demand – habitat destruction – gene line dies. Catch 22. Our grandchildren are unlikely to know what a real lion looks like if we do not find a new solution rather than a punitive ‘banning’ (remember, the gene line is vrek because you imposed punitive punishments).
 
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