9 Myths about Captive-bred Lions by SAPA

[BWH]

I hear you bro....

Personally, I think it's the concept of raising and hunting an apex predator that's off putting. You never really hear anyone getting mad at the ranching and hunting of things like deer and antelope. Of all the stories I read, people only seem to get angry at either giant charismatic megafauna such as elephants, rhinos, etc. or predators like large cats and canids. Lions especially have a level of reverence in our culture ever since the days of antiquity.

But.... who & when decided... what is apex predator or mega charasmatic animal.... its fluid, ever changing, political.... literally day to day. F that noise. I ain't in to hunting caged animals or endangered species. But damn those that interfere with the otherwise.

 

[tigris115]

I hear you bro....


But.... who & when decided... what is apex predator or mega charasmatic animal.... its fluid, ever changing, political.... literally day to day. F that noise. I ain't in to hunting caged animals or endangered species. But damn those that interfere with the otherwise.

It's all cultural. It's why anthropology is so fascinating to me.

 

[Tom Hawk]

Here's something else I noticed. Every time people talk about the stats on lion hunting, they always have to point out that the majority of hunters come from the United States. Not only that, but they say it in such a disgusted and condescending way like a bald eagle took a crap in their corn flakes. I find that attitude very insulting.

The United States has more hunter and people. Didn’t these idiots go to math class.@rinehart0050 done seems like Europeans are jealous of our freedoms.

 

[DE KLERK SAFARIS]

American citizens should be proud of the fact that they form such a significant market when it comes to hunting. With the closure of lion imports into USA we took a beating because the majority of our marketing was focussed on USA and we had to find other markets in Europe, Asia and South America.
Hopefully the importation of lion trophies into USA will soon open up again under very strict norms and standards. Prices of lions will shoot up to comply with all these rules which is a good thing. Lion hunting needs to be controlled very strictly as there were a number of outfitters who gave our industry a bad name by not following rules.
PHASA (Professional Hunter's Association of South Africa) did the brave thing to accept SAPA (South African Predator's Association) norms and standards. It was easy for PHASA to critisize in the past but they never came forth with a solution until now. Now we can get rid of the fly by night operators who hunted lions on small areas. As one of only 8 accredited SAPA ranches I am proud to be a member of both SAPA as well as a life member in PHASA. Look on the SAPA website for the norms and standards.

Please Google all the good work that SAPA is doing for conservation. We already have two projects where we have released captive bred lions into the wild where they have adapted so well that both groups are breeding and have cubs.
Project 1 was 4 females and one male lion released on 61 776 acres and they now have 13 cubs.
Project 2 is one male and one female released on 17 297 acres and they now have 4 cubs.
Project 3 and 4 is coming up in the near future.

These projects goes directly against what the anti hunters were telling everybody.
They claimed that captive bred lions will never be able to adapt in the wilderness and take care of themselves.
We have proved them all wrong. The anti hunters said that captive bred lions have no conservation value.
With these projects SAPA have proven beyond any doubt that captive bred lions can and will survive in the wilderness. So captive bred lions can be used to re stock wilderness areas where lions became extinct. Captive bred lions can be used to supply top genetics to smaller game reserves where the lion genetics suffered from inbreeding because there is only one pride.

Captive bred lions have a definitive conservation value and that is what US Fish and Game wanted to know before they open up importation of lion trophies again.
I hope somebody reading this will talk to a senator or governor or some politician to bring it under the attention of US Fish and Game.

Without the American hunters we as outfitters struggle to make a living so America should be proud of the huge impact they have all over the world.

Sincerely
Hans de Klerk
DE KLERK SAFARIS

 

[DE KLERK SAFARIS]

Look on www.sapredators.co.za/videogallery.asp for videos on these projects as well as SAPA social enhancement projects.

 

[rinehart0050]

@De Klerk Safaris thanks for sharing. I remember reading about those lions being released. Glad to hear that they are doing well and breeding.

The whole idea that lions born in captivity can't survive in the wild has always confused me. Why is it that cattle, horses, dogs, cats, goats, sheep, etc can all survive and establish breeding populations in the wild, but somehow lions can't?

Glad to see that myth disproved.