IFP Scores with Big Five-Point Motion on Canned Hunting Simon Bloch THE IFP raised the stakes and claimed a dramatic victory for conservation in Parliament’s highest legislative body last week when the National Assembly accepted its motion to ban the canned lion hunting industry. Tabled without notice on Wednesday, the IFP motion was brought in solidarity with the Global March for Lions, an internationally co-ordinated event that took place yesterday in more than 60 cities around the world. The motion was tabled and read by the IFP chief whip, JH van der Merwe. ANC chief whip Stone Sizane immediately opposed the motion on the grounds that it did not meet technical procedural requirements, in that it had not been properly circulated to all political parties. However, after Van der Merwe subsequently provided evidence that this was not the case, and that the motion had been submitted correctly and was procedurally in order, it was accepted by the ANC. The IFP subsequently reread the motion on Thursday, and it went through unopposed. This move opens a new chapter in the history of South African conservation, which has been increasingly under the gun from conservationists, animal welfare and tourism organisations to clean its house and protect its national wildlife heritage from unscrupulous industry players. Speaking at the Durban march yesterday, IFP treasurer-general Narend Singh called on government leaders to shut down the muchreviledcaptive-bred lion hunting industry once and for all. “We are marching on behalf of those who have no voice, those who are abused, caged, hunted and killed. We are marching on behalf of the hundreds of lions facing a brutal life and undignified death to satisfy the monster of canned lion hunting,” Singh said. “Knowing this to be true, the IFP took up the fight and tabled a motion in Parliament supporting today’s global march, and calling on government to ban the cowardly practice of canned lion hunting. “We declared in Parliament that trophy hunting is, as the Kenyan government so aptly put it, ‘a barbaric relic of colonialism’. “It must go. It is wrong. Our lions are our nation’s treasure, our heritage.” IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has won international acclaim for his work in conservation, and has played a leading role in protecting South Africa’s population of rhinos and elephants. In the late 1990s undercover British documentary film-maker Roger Cook’s TV series, The Cook Report, opened the eyes of the world to the dark and seamy side of lion trophy hunting in South Africa. Reduced to nothing more than docile targets bred for the bullet or arrow, the series exposed how tame and often drugged predators were released from cages and small fenced enclosures, only to be shot by foreign hunters in search of the “ultimate trophy” to hang on their walls. International campaigner and activist Chris Mercer calls canned hunting “the con in conservation”. “Canned hunting is a massive and increasing threat to the survival of wild lion populations in Africa. “Already there are reports in the media about wild lions being killed in Botswana to obtain cubs which are then smuggled across the border into South Africa. “Unscrupulous South African lion breeders will buy them to bring fresh blood into their lion stock for genetic reasons, and to ward off captivity depression. “This wholesale and unscientific killing of lions has long-term effects on wild prides, destroying the core pride function. “Research shows that it can take as long as seven years for a lion pride to re-establish itself after the death of the trophy male,” Mercer said. In recent years, Laos, Vietnam and other South-East Asian countries have become a lucrative extra source of revenue for the lion breeders and hunting outfitters. Traders buy the lion skeletons and bones for export to the East, where traders have begun selling lion bones as a cure-all and potion to superstitious Asians. With the rapidly dwindling tiger population due to illegal poaching in South-East Asia, conservationists are concerned that the demand for lion bones from South Africa could also lead to the decimation of populations in the wild. An estimated 2 592 lion trophies were exported from South Africa to the US and a further 1 206 to EU member states from 2007 to 2012. The IFP’s five-point motion was passed unopposed in the National Assembly on Thursday. The motion: Acknowledges the unified voice and will of the South African people as well as the people of more than 46 cities around the world who wished to petition the South African government to ban the “cowardly” practice of canned lion hunting. Agrees that trophy hunting has been accurately described by the Kenyan government as “a barbaric relic of colonialism”. Deplores the manner in which the king of apex predators in Africa has been reduced to a “wall hanging” souvenir for cowardly foreign hunters. Believes that African wildlife, and in particular our lion, rhino and elephant, deserve the highest and most stringent measures of protection. Implores the South African government to immediately amend the country’s laws to give effect to such measures. Sunday Independent Page 5 thesundayindependent.newspaperdirect/epaper/viewer.aspx FACTS AND FIGURES • 20 000 lions left in Africa. • 900 lions a year are legally hunted and exported for trophies (in the whole of Africa) • 547 lions legally exported from South Africa a year • In South Africa, there are more lions in cages than in the wild.(2,743 ‘wild’ lions in SA game reserves at last count. About 8,000 in captivity.) • Less than 3 per cent of trophy income reaches the local communities. • Trophy hunting accounts for only 0.27% of GDP and 1.8% of tourism revenue. • Lions have lost over 50% of their historic range in the last 30 years. • Over 160 “Canned Lion” killing camps in South Africa established over the past 15 years. • Lion bones are being traded large-scale from captive breeding operations into eastern markets. Source: globalmarch4lions.org Simon Blochs photo. Simon Blochs photo. Simon Blochs photo. Simon Blochs photo. Simon Blochs photo. IFP Scores with Big Five-Point Motion on Canned Hunting Simon Bloch THE IFP raised the stakes and claimed a dramatic victory for conservation in Parliament’s highest legislative body last week when the National Assembly accepted its motion to ban the canned lion hunting industry. Tabled without notice on Wednesday, the IFP motion was brought in solidarity with the Global March for Lions, an internationally co-ordinated event that took place yesterday in more than 60 cities around the world. The motion was tabled and read by the IFP chief whip, JH van der Merwe. ANC chief whip Stone Sizane immediately opposed the motion on the grounds that it did not meet technical procedural requirements, in that it had not been properly circulated to all political parties. However, after Van der Merwe subsequently provided evidence that this was not the case, and that the motion had been submitted correctly and was procedurally in order, it was accepted by the ANC. The IFP subsequently reread the motion on Thursday, and it went through unopposed. This move opens a new chapter in the history of South African conservation, which has been increasingly under the gun from conservationists, animal welfare and tourism organisations to clean its house and protect its national wildlife heritage from unscrupulous industry players. Speaking at the Durban march yesterday, IFP treasurer-general Narend Singh called on government leaders to shut down the muchreviledcaptive-bred lion hunting industry once and for all. “We are marching on behalf of those who have no voice, those who are abused, caged, hunted and killed. We are marching on behalf of the hundreds of lions facing a brutal life and undignified death to satisfy the monster of canned lion hunting,” Singh said. “Knowing this to be true, the IFP took up the fight and tabled a motion in Parliament supporting today’s global march, and calling on government to ban the cowardly practice of canned lion hunting. “We declared in Parliament that trophy hunting is, as the Kenyan government so aptly put it, ‘a barbaric relic of colonialism’. “It must go. It is wrong. Our lions are our nation’s treasure, our heritage.” IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has won international acclaim for his work in conservation, and has played a leading role in protecting South Africa’s population of rhinos and elephants. In the late 1990s undercover British documentary film-maker Roger Cook’s TV series, The Cook Report, opened the eyes of the world to the dark and seamy side of lion trophy hunting in South Africa. Reduced to nothing more than docile targets bred for the bullet or arrow, the series exposed how tame and often drugged predators were released from cages and small fenced enclosures, only to be shot by foreign hunters in search of the “ultimate trophy” to hang on their walls. International campaigner and activist Chris Mercer calls canned hunting “the con in conservation”. “Canned hunting is a massive and increasing threat to the survival of wild lion populations in Africa. “Already there are reports in the media about wild lions being killed in Botswana to obtain cubs which are then smuggled across the border into South Africa. “Unscrupulous South African lion breeders will buy them to bring fresh blood into their lion stock for genetic reasons, and to ward off captivity depression. “This wholesale and unscientific killing of lions has long-term effects on wild prides, destroying the core pride function. “Research shows that it can take as long as seven years for a lion pride to re-establish itself after the death of the trophy male,” Mercer said. In recent years, Laos, Vietnam and other South-East Asian countries have become a lucrative extra source of revenue for the lion breeders and hunting outfitters. Traders buy the lion skeletons and bones for export to the East, where traders have begun selling lion bones as a cure-all and potion to superstitious Asians. With the rapidly dwindling tiger population due to illegal poaching in South-East Asia, conservationists are concerned that the demand for lion bones from South Africa could also lead to the decimation of populations in the wild. An estimated 2 592 lion trophies were exported from South Africa to the US and a further 1 206 to EU member states from 2007 to 2012. The IFP’s five-point motion was passed unopposed in the National Assembly on Thursday. The motion: Acknowledges the unified voice and will of the South African people as well as the people of more than 46 cities around the world who wished to petition the South African government to ban the “cowardly” practice of canned lion hunting. Agrees that trophy hunting has been accurately described by the Kenyan government as “a barbaric relic of colonialism”. Deplores the manner in which the king of apex predators in Africa has been reduced to a “wall hanging” souvenir for cowardly foreign hunters. Believes that African wildlife, and in particular our lion, rhino and elephant, deserve the highest and most stringent measures of protection. Implores the South African government to immediately amend the country’s laws to give effect to such measures. Sunday Independent Page 5 thesundayindependent.newspaperdirect/epaper/viewer.aspx Like · · about an hour ago
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 11:16:05 +0000
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