OUR STORY
Background to canned hunting ...
Breeding lions for hunters - canned hunting - was first revealed in all its horror on ITV's acclaimed The Cook Report 25 years ago. The programme's various hard-hitting exposés led to many criminal convictions and a number of changes in law.
Sadly ... not for South Africa's canned lions. Lion farming for canned hunting continued to be legal in South Africa, despite international outrage.
Canned hunting is also known as vanity hunting. The so-called hunter buys a lion. His lion has been moved into a fenced enclosure, from which there is no escape. He shoots the lion, at close range. Sometimes, the canned hunter's lion is still drugged, after this move into the "kill camp". So there is no fair chase. No escape. Nowhere to run. A canned hunt is cheaper than a conventional hunt, saving the "hunter" time and money. It's a quick, guaranteed lion head or skin to take home.
Sadly ... not for South Africa's canned lions. Lion farming for canned hunting continued to be legal in South Africa, despite international outrage.
Canned hunting is also known as vanity hunting. The so-called hunter buys a lion. His lion has been moved into a fenced enclosure, from which there is no escape. He shoots the lion, at close range. Sometimes, the canned hunter's lion is still drugged, after this move into the "kill camp". So there is no fair chase. No escape. Nowhere to run. A canned hunt is cheaper than a conventional hunt, saving the "hunter" time and money. It's a quick, guaranteed lion head or skin to take home.
Then came the next warning ...
Nothing happened to lessen the misery of an ever-growing number of farmed lions in South Africa. Nine years later, in 2004, Time magazine published in-depth research to spotlight the decline of Africa's predators, the big cats. Wild lions were shown to be under severe threat; numbers revealed an unexpected, alarming decrease in recent decades.
At the same time, canned (farmed) lions were on the increase. Alarm bells were ringing, loudly, because farmed lions cannot survive in the wild - as proven time after time. Still South Africa continued to reject the ugly truth.
At the same time, canned (farmed) lions were on the increase. Alarm bells were ringing, loudly, because farmed lions cannot survive in the wild - as proven time after time. Still South Africa continued to reject the ugly truth.
It gets worse ... FF to 2019
Fast forward to 2019. Thousands of lion trophies have left South Africa. The law favours canned hunters. And a new horror industry has emerged: a massive, mega-profitable lion bone trade. Now, farmed lions that are not "impressive" enough for the hunter's bullet, plus the leftover parts of shot lions, are sold and exported by SA lion farmers to Asian crime syndicates.
They pay lion farmers per lion carcass. Carcasses are stripped in abbatoirs, bones are processed for export to Asia and fraudulently sold as tiger bone cake - said to have mystical and healing qualities. Like rhino horn. And STILL canned hunting and lion farming is permitted in South Africa. In fact, it is supported: government issued 1,500 permits for lion carcasses in 2018. (The number was reduced to 800 after pressure from anti-canned hunting groups.)
So ask yourself ...
They pay lion farmers per lion carcass. Carcasses are stripped in abbatoirs, bones are processed for export to Asia and fraudulently sold as tiger bone cake - said to have mystical and healing qualities. Like rhino horn. And STILL canned hunting and lion farming is permitted in South Africa. In fact, it is supported: government issued 1,500 permits for lion carcasses in 2018. (The number was reduced to 800 after pressure from anti-canned hunting groups.)
So ask yourself ...
Is this the image of lions we want our children to have?
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Is this what you want your children to inherit?
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Do you think our children and grandchildren will thank us for this?
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Join the campaign to fight against this unethical treatment of wild animals. Go the the Act Now page to see what can be done. Do it. For the lions. For our future generations.
Who leads the campaign against canned hunting?
Chris Mercer is a retired lawyer and farmer. Together with his late partner, Beverley Pervan, he established a wildlife rehab centre and sanctuary in the Kalahari region. When they heard of the unimaginably cruel treatment of lions on South Africa's lion farms, Chris started to campaign against canned hunting. CACH - the Campaign Against Canned Hunting - was born.
Chris Mercer is recognised as the leading international expert on the practice of canned lion hunting.
Chris Mercer is recognised as the leading international expert on the practice of canned lion hunting.
... Become a Wildlife Advocate ...
Chris Mercer, founder of CACH, offers informal wildlife advocacy talks at the beautiful Karoo Wildlife Centre on a regular (but limited) basis. Hear the history of the campaign, how the canned hunting industry works, the spellbinding rescue story of Yame and George, and much more.
Chris Mercer, founder of CACH, offers informal wildlife advocacy talks at the beautiful Karoo Wildlife Centre on a regular (but limited) basis. Hear the history of the campaign, how the canned hunting industry works, the spellbinding rescue story of Yame and George, and much more.
Learn about the relentless lobbying on the part of the international hunting fraternity, and how they exert pressure on governments. "Our opposition, the hunting group, is wealthy and arrogant," says Mercer. "One significant canned hunting outfit is Safari Club International (SCI), a powerful, influential US-based hunting lobby. There are more, equally powerful, equally vain and vicious. To this day, SCI has a scoring system that promotes maximum killing (of lions, elephants, rhino etc) in minimum time." Also learn how these groups have infiltrated the biggest and most prestigeous conservation organisations.
Chris and Beverley published two books including Kalahari Dream, a fascinating personal account of their seven-year wild animal rehab experience near the Botswana-South Africa border.
CACH was the recipient of a Marchig Trust grant in 2007. In March 2014, a 62-city global March for Lions was co-ordinated by CACH, asking the South African government to outlaw canned hunting.
At the world's biggest travel fair, WTM, held every in London, CACH was awarded the top honour for best global animal welfare initiative in 2015. The award is presented by World Responsible Travel.
At the world's biggest travel fair, WTM, held every in London, CACH was awarded the top honour for best global animal welfare initiative in 2015. The award is presented by World Responsible Travel.
CACH supported the making of the film Blood Lions, an award-winning documentary that exposes the sordid lion farming industry in South Africa.
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