Conservationists are worried that proposed national legislation for the management of predators will see ”canned” hunting replaced by a new form of sophisticated ”candy-coated” hunting.
They warn the new proposals leave loopholes that will be exploited by unscrupulous breeders of lions and other predators who have already brought the country’s wildlife industry into disrepute. The proposals, drawn up by provincial officials, were due to be submitted to MECs and the minister of environmental affairs and tourism this month.
The document blasts the kind of ”canned” lion hunting that caused an international public outrage when it was exposed in the late 1990s. It prohibits hunting of large predators in captivity, hunting at night, using drugs to tranquilise target animals, and luring animals by using sound, scent or bait. It stipulates that dogs may not be used and that hunting must be done on foot.
”These aspects appear to be progressive because they will mean the end of canned hunting as we know it,” says Gareth Patterson, who played a key role in exposing the sordid industry in 1997. ”But I am worried the grey areas in the proposals could spawn a new form of candy-coated hunting.”
The proposals outlaw hunting of captive and ”human-imprinted” predators, but they allow for wild and ”managed wild” animals to be hunted. Managed wild animals are defined as free-ranging carnivores whose prey populations may need to be supplemented. They may be hunted only six months after being introduced to an area.
An estimated 45 to 50 large cat breeders in South Africa hold more than 2 500 lions in cages or small enclosures on their properties. They can earn between R50 000 and R500 000 by offering the animals to hunters, most of whom are foreign.
Animal welfare groups say these centres should be closed down and an immediate ban imposed on the captive breeding of predators for commercial purposes.
”After imposing one or two easily evaded conditions on the canned hunting industry as a sop to public opinion, the proposals go on to make life worse for lions and other predators,” says Chris Mercer, representative of a coalition of organisations called DNA (Diversity, Nature and Animals).
In a hard-hitting report on the ethics of canned hunting released this week, the South African director of the world’s largest conservation NGO criticises the commercialisation of ”blood sports”.
”The predominant members of the hunting community are often also associated with the most dysfunctional of ideologies in our societies,” writes Saliem Fakir, country director of the IUCN-World Conservation Union. ”They often come from communities where gun culture and macho cowboy mentalities are rife. For instance, in the United States, where owning a gun is seen as a constitutional right, the number of big game hunters is said to be about 11-million.”
Botswana has banned the hunting of lions, despite pressure from former US president George Bush and other members of Safari Club International — the largest hunting organisation in the world — because of the negative impact on the lion population. Researchers say the number of lions in Botswana declined by about two-thirds in 10 years.
Conservationists broadly agree the African lion population has fallen from about 50 000 to fewer than 15 000 over the past decade. The last viable wild populations are confined to Southern and East Africa.
”With so few genuine free-ranging lions left, the new legislation should rather be calling for a total ban on the hunting of predators,” says Patterson. ”We should be bold enough to follow Botswana’s lead for ecological reasons.”
Questions to the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism about the status of the new legislation were unanswered at the time of going to press.