Well said Sylvia :!: It is just about as low as it gets to kill animals in this way and it is beyond belief that people can be allowed to make money out of it. It makes me sick.

Cerinthe, what does it take to let a captive bred lions to go wild? In short, years and years of walking with them, on a daily basis, through the bush are necessary to stimulation their natural hunting instinct. You have to make manmade prides, slowly reduce the feeding so to stimulate them to hunt. Even if and when they finally make it, yes even then, they are more than willing to come close to human for a single free meal.

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Landi, call it what you like but dropping lions in a certain area and let them be range “free” for six months and then kill like sitting ducks is not the answer. For me there is no way to call this an improvement.

Yes, I am aware that Europeans participate in these despicable hunts, and as far as I am concerned, I have but one answer for that! Shove them in a cage with a wild lion, then let us see how brave they are, pathetic little weasels! Sick individuals, they make me sick in the stomach, for me there is no pleasure in killing.

However, the demand is no excuse for allowing it to happen, even to the point of legalizing it! Release in a certain area, be sure it is fenced, leaving them there to await their fate, if they survive those six months that is, is no improvement.

Further, I think the European Union should prohibit the import of sport-hunting trophies into the European Union. As for the USA they should at least do their utmost to stop the canned hunts in the USA and also prohibit the import of trophies.

At least this is a step in the right direction and while there are still many questions which remain unanswered.

This will finally end the slaughter of captive bred lions by unethical hunters whose sole purpose is a trophy on the wall and no desire for the thrill of the hunt (well, a thrill for some - I have never hunted and will never do so).

It will also bring to an end the huge money making industry by a few greedy individuals who raise these lion (and tiger and other creatures not indigenous to Africa) like battery chickens to cater for the market of unethical hunters.

As far as I understand the proposed law the animals will have to be realeased into a large area and be free ranging for 6 months before they can be hunted (who is going to check on this is still a question that remains unanswered), however this will make it far more difficult for the breeders to keep all these lions fed and separated from each other (where the "trophy" lions will certainly tear each other apart as they fight for dominance leaving them scarred and therefore unattractive to the "trophy hunter"). For many of the breeders, this will make their entire operation unviable and most are likely to give up the entire sick process, however as with most things related to wildlife anywhere in the world where money is involved, some greedy individuals will flout the laws and continue with this despicable practice.

The other issue which needs to be highlighted is that the market for these hunts does not come from South Africa but from Europe, America and Asia - the fellow countrymen (and sometimes women) of many Africammers are the ones who are willing to pay hundereds of thousands of dollars to keep this industry going. Pressure needs to be put on both hunters and breeders to end it.

Landi

Now I understand, I wasnt thinking about that....Its still wrong, why even let them out of the pens then??? Just shoot them through the holes in the fence...

Which means in fact is that a lion who was raised in a breeding pen will after 6 months still come closer when it sees humans, still thinking it will be fed? And be a easy target

Sylvia wrote:

They can't survive you are so right!!!

Bascia it takes at approximately 2 years of supervision, occasional feeding and teaching before a lion is able to fend for itself.

This way they might as well shoot them right away!

Unless Im missing something..How can they say they are banning this type of hunting, If after 6 months out in the bush, the lions can still be killed???

They have made no provisions on where to let these animals go??
How can a captive bred animal survive on it's own, will they teach it how to kill to survive...
Have these people even considered all this???

This angers me so much,people will spend thousands, to put a trophy on their wall, instead of putting that money to good use, to help feed the starving, to educate about aids...etc..Yes a trophy is much more important!!

Maybe the tides should be turned and put the makers of this bill into the pens....

I don't understand this new law very good....

If I understand well... the Breeding of lions is still allowed, and these lions are still allowed to be hunted.
The only difference is that the hunters will have to wait six months to do so.

:twisted: