name and shame
There are over 9000 - yes, that is nine thousand - game farms in South Africa. Most of them are hunting farms.
More than a million animals are killed for fun every year by sport hunters. In regard to trophy hunting,large numbers of unfortunate animals die - not instantly, but slowly and painfully, as trophy hunters never want to break the skin on the head, and a single shot or arrow to the heart is exceptional; and of course the best possible specimens are hunted down: not the aged and infirm, as people crying "sustainable use" would have you believe.
In regard to Kruger Park, much hunting takes place in the large conservancies which adjoin the western border of the park, and where the park fences have been dropped by SanParks to facilitate the hunting of Kruger Park animals. SanParks rangers are themselves allowed to hunt Kruger Park animals for their own consumption. This right is actually written into their employment contracts.
Shame
Ethical tourists should beware of resorts which allow cub petting. Cub petting can profit the canned hunting industry. Breeders rent out cubs to tourist facilities until the cubs become too big, when they are returned to the breeders to be grown out in captivity and hunted. To read more on this subject go to Drakenstein Lion Park
There are dozens of sites devoted to hunting and we do not list them on our name and shame page because they do not seek to conceal their hunting activities. The name and shame page is really aimed at alerting tourists to those resorts which purport to be ethical eco tourist facilities but which support the canned hunting industry either directly or indirectly such as the rent-a-cub business. The fact that a facility is not listed does not mean we endorse or approve of their activities. Where cubs are used as petting objects it is more than likely that those animals will eventually be hunted. As you can surely understand it is simply not feasible to keep breeding and feeding lions indefinitely. These are NOT ALL the places where these actives occur. However please consider the welfare of animals before travelling to places where these activities do occur.
The reserves listed below allow hunting, not necessarily lion hunting, and or cub petting. Ethical tourists may rather wish to direct their tourism dollars to wildlife destinations where the animals are cherished and protected from sport hunters. Many tourism resorts conceal their hunting activities to attract eco-tourists. You can make a difference as an ethical tourist by investigating the resort or reserve you are intending to visit to make sure that they do not hunt any species on their property. Rather support those resorts that cherish and protect all their wildlife.
