The National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) has laid a charge against the owner of six lion cubs being used in a documentary film because of the conditions under which the lions, all cubs, are being kept at Polokwane in Limpopo, the NSPCA said on Friday.
Senior Inspector Andries Venter, of the NSPCA’s National Wildlife Unit said that on October 31 he and a local NSPCA inspector had found the six cubs caged on a domestic property, with a dog running around and barking at them. Two lionesses were very thin and showed signs of stress.
He said a Mr Viv Bristowe had told him the animals had been put on a spare diet to make them look thinner for a documentary on the African lion.
The National Council of SPCAs had ordered filming to stop, and had given the film crew four days in which to improve the condition of the cubs. Since then, however, the handler had denied SPCA officials access to the animals.
A charge had been laid in terms of the Performing Animals Protection Act. The Commercial Producers’ Association has backed the action taken by the SPCA to improve the living conditions of the cubs. – Sapa