Independent on Saturday

Four Paws lashes SA big cat farms

SAMEER NAIK sameer.naik@inl.co.za

GLOBAL animal welfare organisation Four Paws has urged the government to consider legislative changes to stop the commercial trade of all big cats in South Africa.

South Africa remains the biggest exporter of live, big cats globally, with widespread big cat farming taking place across the country.

They want the SA Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to include all big cat species within the protective legislation it plans to implement for lions.

Recently, Four Paws obtained shocking, unreleased footage which documents, and supports estimations that as many as 12 000 lions, and an unknown number of tigers, are being intensively farmed in captive facilities across the country.

“While the Government’s Draft Policy Position to end the breeding and keeping of captive lions in South Africa for commercial purposes is a hugely impactful step in the protection and conservation of the species, there is a pressing need to include all big cats within this protective legislation,” Four Paws South Africa director Fiona Miles said this week.

“The farming and trading of live tigers is not monitored in South Africa because the species is exotic, and the trade is little regulated or enforced.

“This has to change. Otherwise, the tiger breeding industry will only increase where the captive lion industry is being phased out – our footage serves as evidence that farmers are already manipulating this loophole.”

South Africa has become the largest exporter over the past decade, and routes to China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand have seen thousands of animals and their parts leaving the country.

Between 2011 and 2020, 2 402 live lions and 359 tigers were exported from South Africa, with the majority of exports destined for Asia.

“As bones and other products cannot be easily distinguished between big cat species once the skin is removed, all bones of big cats could be used in traditional medicine.

“With new laws, we will protect South Africa’s indigenous species, global populations of big cats, support enforcement efforts against illegal trade, and establish South Africa as a global conservation leader.”

In the footage obtained by Four Paws, large numbers of tigers are shown to be living in dirty, overcrowded enclosures.

“We, and other NGOs, have done lots of research into the state of the big cats and the facilities they are kept in,” said Miles.

“Unfortunately, it shows a troubling reality. The cats are kept in overcrowded, small enclosures; cubs are torn away from their mothers within a few days to bring their mothers back into an intensive breeding cycle; unsafe working conditions for the staff; and a lack of basic animal welfare conditions, such as sufficient water, food, shelter, and medical care.

“These farms have been established solely to make a profit from these animals. Animal welfare is not a priority, and as a result, cubs born with birth defects and high zoonotic disease transmission are commonplace.

“The footage clearly shows animals suffering from mange, with dirty water, being held in dirty, overcrowded and inadequate enclosures.”

She added that the cats were exploited from soon after birth, daysor week-old cubs were removed from the mothers and put in petting enclosures for tourist photos and bottle feeding.

“Visitors are often told the cub was taken for its own safety, or the mother rejected the cub”, and the cubs are raised by paying volunteers.

When the animals grow too big, they are moved to holding facilities where they reproduce, are sold to other breeders or zoos, killed as trophies or slaughtered for their bones for traditional medicine.

The organisation has also started a petition to urge the government to end commercial trade in all big cat species in SA.

To sign it, visit https://bit.ly/breakthe-vicious-cycle

METRO

en-za

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

http://independentonsaturday.pressreader.com/article/281608128704949

African News Agency