MONDAY, 2.30PM
THE Mpumalanga Parks Board has proposed a total ban on the hunting of captive-bred or tame lions, leopards and cheetahs following widespread public outrage at ”canned” lion hunting in the province.
Releasing a draft policy document, the board, however, reiterated its support for controlled big-game hunting by insisting that if properly managed, the sport is a sustainable industry which contributes to both the provincial economy and to long-term nature conservation.
The draft policy document, issued for public comment on Monday, stresses that ”proper management” must subscribe to accepted professional ethics, including stipulations that hunts may not take place from vehicles or in enclosures smaller than 1 000 hectares.
The policy document arises out of a Mail & Guardian expos based on a British television documentary, which showed, among other things, a lioness being lured under the Kruger Park’s fence and shot dead in sight of her cubs. To combat a repeat of the hunts which were captured on film, the MPB is also proposing that no wild cats may be hunted in enclosures of less that 1 000ha, that they may not be drugged except for translocation and may not be lured during hunts by the use of sounds, scents, visual stimuli, artificial feeding, baiting and the staking of other live animals.
Although hunts will continue to be allowed, the MPB must first be convinced that the hunt will take place in a manner which complies with all the policy proposals in the document and also conforms to the principal of ”fair chase”. This would mean that the hunted animal has complete free movement, is in a natural environment and has the opportunity to escape or defend itself during the hunt.