Reminder of the realities of canned hunting

We were fortunate to spend some time at a facility that rescued lion from canned hunting operations. To see these beautiful lion up close and to imaging that, if not rescued, they would now be a cape or mounted specimen was a harsh reminder of the canned hunting industry. Sadly I cannot mention names or places as the people concerned have been threatened.

Lying around on the farm were old trap cages used for trapping leopard that were then shot.

Go to http://wildcareafrica.blogspot.com and read about the successful release of two leopard cubs rescued from the canned hunting industry.

Canned hunting as a conservation tool ?

Supporters of the canned hunting & captive breeding of lion claim that it will help to preserve free living wild lions in Africa. (Lion populations are threatened ! ) This is a fallacious argument.
Hunters who pay large amounts of money to hunt lion in the wild are not going to change to hunting canned captive bred lion. This market and threat to wild populations will continue. A completely different and new market has been set up as a result of the canned captive bred hunts. There are two completely different markets.

Many of the canned hunters want a trophy or  'bargain' hunts, and do not want to spend time and effort tracking a wild lion. 

Many of the canned predator breeding facilities have little concern for, or knowledge about genetics and the captive bred predators can be back-bred or interbred. Thus again negating the conservation argument. 

Canned lion hunting and captive breeding of predators

The canned hunting industry is currently being questioned with new regulations being put in place.  Captive predator breeders are fighting the new regulations. There are many very serious welfare and ethical issues connected with the canned hunting and captive breeding of predators. Many of these issues are being ignored or side tracked in the debates and media exposure.

Did you know that it is common practice in lion breeding facilities to remove the cubs from the mother when the cubs are just a few days old. The cubs are hand raised so that they are tame and can be handled. Cubs are used to draw tourists, who pay to have a photograph taken with a cute little cub, or pay to bottle feed the cubs. The handling, husbandary and keeping conditions are frequently poor and nutritional deficiencies and injuries are common. Some breeding facilities use the cubs to draw paying volunteers. Others claim that cubs were orphaned and for an amount of money you can adopt a cub. Predator breeding facilities frequently masquerade as  'sanctuaries'.  

When cubs are removed from the mother, she comes into oestrus soon afterwards and may have repeated litters in a year - more than she would under natural conditions. This weakens both the mother, and litter condition deteriorates producing progressively weaker cubs. Female cubs don't have as high a commercial value as the males, and female cubs are destroyed by mostly cruel methods. 

Green hunting - helping or hindering conservation

The original idea of green darting was a very clever idea, bringing much needed funding into conservation. If a wild animal had to be captured, or darted for research or conservation purposes, then an interested lay person could pay for the privilege of being part of the process. The payment would go towards funding the research or conservation activity.

Unfortunately this has become completely over-commercialised and darting and capture now take place on demand and anything is possible for the right price.

For example, instead of a rhino being darted for relocation - rhino are now darted simply because there is a client who wants to dart an animal and have some photos taken without actually hunting the animal. Sounds great - but in reality, rhino are being darted repeatedly, sometimes weekly. The drugs utilised have risks and serious side effects. Any kind of darting or man-handling, especially when it is a large animal, causes bruising and localised trauma. Injuries occur when the animal falls or is moved.

Many species of wild animal are being green hunted and 'so-called' research and conservation activities are being set up to cater for paying clients.

The drugs used for green darting are scheduled veterinary drugs, available only to veterinarians. Wildlife rescue and animal welfare organisations are restricted in their ability to use these drugs for emergency situations.

Green hunting and darting safaris raise some really serious ethical questions...........