Carte Blanche ran a strong expose last night on the sordid industry that is captive lion breeding and canned hunting. There are some facts that need to be laid out on the table:-
1. The hunt that was shown was a nine day one in which ten lions were slain. This was organised by Bob Vitro (True Life Taxidermy) who is a New York based agent.
2. Eight CAPTIVE BRED lionesses were released onto the farm “Wilzenau” which is owned by De Klerk Safaris. “Wilzenau” is situated in North West Province – a province that is commonly known as the Wild West due to the widespread corruption in conservation there. These 8 lionesses were all hunted over a period of four days.
3. Two CAPTIVE BRED male lions were released on the fourth day of the hunt and slain on days five and nine. This is totally illegal in terms of the province’s legislation governing release periods for captive bred hunts.
4. Stormberg Elangeni Safaris, a South African hunting outfitter, arranged for five professional hunters (PHs) to attend the slaughter. These PHs – James Quin, Harry Sparks, John Sparks,Paul Inman and David Birch – all knew that they were “hunting” captive bred lions.
5. Further adding to the unethical, immoral and illegal scenario, the American hunters were led to believe that they were hunting wild lion who roamed free in their own territory which they knew very well and thus were able to defend themselves and evade the hunters.
6. The truth? All the lions were CAPTIVE BRED and habituated to humans. They were drugged, completely confused and terrified. They climbed trees, hid in warthog burrows and under thick bush – trying whatever they could to hide from the bullets. Their terror is unimaginable. They were shot down where they hid. They stood absolutely no chance of escape.
Campaign Against Canned Hunting (CACH) calls upon:-
1. The Professional Hunters Association of South Africa (PHASA) to ban these so-called professional hunters.
2. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to thoroughly and openly investigate the hunters, outfitter and game farm owners for illegal hunting of lion.
This entire industry brings shame to South Africa and the rest of the world cannot understand how it has been allowed to proliferate and continue.
Here is the Carte Blanche link:
http://carteblanche.dstv.com/player/1067054/
CHRIS MERCER & LINDA PARK : DIRECTORS
1. The hunt that was shown was a nine day one in which ten lions were slain. This was organised by Bob Vitro (True Life Taxidermy) who is a New York based agent.
2. Eight CAPTIVE BRED lionesses were released onto the farm “Wilzenau” which is owned by De Klerk Safaris. “Wilzenau” is situated in North West Province – a province that is commonly known as the Wild West due to the widespread corruption in conservation there. These 8 lionesses were all hunted over a period of four days.
3. Two CAPTIVE BRED male lions were released on the fourth day of the hunt and slain on days five and nine. This is totally illegal in terms of the province’s legislation governing release periods for captive bred hunts.
4. Stormberg Elangeni Safaris, a South African hunting outfitter, arranged for five professional hunters (PHs) to attend the slaughter. These PHs – James Quin, Harry Sparks, John Sparks,Paul Inman and David Birch – all knew that they were “hunting” captive bred lions.
5. Further adding to the unethical, immoral and illegal scenario, the American hunters were led to believe that they were hunting wild lion who roamed free in their own territory which they knew very well and thus were able to defend themselves and evade the hunters.
6. The truth? All the lions were CAPTIVE BRED and habituated to humans. They were drugged, completely confused and terrified. They climbed trees, hid in warthog burrows and under thick bush – trying whatever they could to hide from the bullets. Their terror is unimaginable. They were shot down where they hid. They stood absolutely no chance of escape.
Campaign Against Canned Hunting (CACH) calls upon:-
1. The Professional Hunters Association of South Africa (PHASA) to ban these so-called professional hunters.
2. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to thoroughly and openly investigate the hunters, outfitter and game farm owners for illegal hunting of lion.
This entire industry brings shame to South Africa and the rest of the world cannot understand how it has been allowed to proliferate and continue.
Here is the Carte Blanche link:
http://carteblanche.dstv.com/player/1067054/
CHRIS MERCER & LINDA PARK : DIRECTORS
