african lion safari animal abuse

Of the 1,200 zoos surveyed, researchers made field visits to 12 that showcase captive wild animals performing for or interacting with visitors, with a focus on big cats, dolphins, elephants and primates.

African Lion Safari and Jungle Cat World, both of which are located in Ontario, were among the zoos they visited.

At African Lion Safari, the organization says elephants were forced to perform tricks such as bowing, painting and lifting up a trainer. Visitors could also touch elephants and ride them on a circular track. At Jungle Cat World, visitors were able to get close enough take selfies with a variety of wild animals including cougars, tigers, lions and wolves.

Matlow cited a recent elephant attack at African Lion Safari that seriously injured a trainer to illustrate how forcing the animals to perform can be dangerous both to the animals and humans.

"Elephant rides and wildlife selfies are outdated and dangerous, as the recent attack on a trainer at African Lion Safari made clear,” Matlow said.

She added that while it’s not wrong to want to see wild animals up close, many visitors to zoos are uninformed about the cruelty that takes place behind the scenes.

"If you can see animals involved in activities they wouldn't normally do in the wild, then it shouldn't be shown in a zoo. It's not natural, it's not educational, it's cruel.”

As Canadians are learning more about the treatment of wild animals used for entertainment, their views toward the industry are changing. The study found that 61 per cent of Canadians find elephant riding unacceptable and 89 per cent believe wild animals belong in the wild. Tourism companies are responding by removing elephant rides from their offerings and Instagram now discourages wildlife selfies.

Meanwhile, World Animal Protection is pressuring Africa Lion Safari and the Ontario Minister of Labour to end elephant rides and shows at the park. The organization launched a letter-writing campaign in July that saw more than 7,700 people send e-letters to the park and the provincial government urging them to do so.

“The decision to launch our e-letter campaign came following global research we had conducted on activities that contravene professional zoo policy, and two visits to African Lion Safari, at the end of May and early June 2019,” a media release by World Animal Protection said.

“We received a lot of support and positive feedback about the campaign.”

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The end of SA’s shameful lion breeding industry – what now happens to the lions?

By: melissa reitz.

Last month, South Africa’s government took a significant step forward for animal welfare and lion conservation when the Minister of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE), Barbara Creecy, announced plans for a complete ban on the controversial captive lion breeding industry. But as we stare into the face of the horror created over two decades, one question remains: what will happen to the thousands of captive-bred, genetically impaired and diseased lions and cubs?

Conservationists and welfare experts have pushed to shut down the captive lion breeding industry for years, saying it is cruel, has no conservation value, and is damaging to South Africa’s international image. The industry has been exposed for the unethical ‘canned’ or captive lion hunting, the questionable tourist cub petting industry and, more recently, the lion bone trade to Asia.

Now, as processes to close the industry are unfolding, welfare activists ask: “What will become of all the lions?”

The answer is not only shocking but also sobering. With so many welfare and genetic defects, more than half, if not all, of the approximately 12 000 captive-bred lions will need to be euthanised.

The unregulated captive industry has led to the inbreeding of lions, resulting in physical defects, inferior genetics, and a breeding zone for pathogens that threatens other lion populations and humans.

“We must not ignore the catastrophic consequences created by this horrific industry. Let’s hope South Africa and the rest of the world does not easily forget the shameful outcome of such animal exploitation,” says Adrienne West of Animal Survival International .

Conservationists say rewilding captive-bred lions is no solution due to their diseases, compromised genes and human habitation. And there is simply not enough wild habitat available to accommodate so many lions.

Furthermore, despite many facilities promoting themselves as wildlife sanctuaries, only a handful of true sanctuaries exist in South Africa. None have the capacity or financial ability to home hundreds of big cats.

Yet the industry must be stopped. Left unchecked, the captive predator breeding industry is a self-perpetuating animal welfare disaster. During the mid-nineties, when the Cook Report first exposed the horrific cruelty of the industry and Director of Blood Lions, Ian Michler, began his intensive investigations, there were fewer than 1000 lions held in captive facilities.

“When I started investigating, there may have been about 800 predators living in captive facilities. In 2005, I submitted a report to the government at the time, estimating that there were roughly 3500, and when we researched Blood Lions, the number was in excess of 6 000. Today it’s estimated that there are over 10 000 lions in about 300 captive breeding facilities,” says Michler.

If the captive breeding of lions were left to continue, the number could explode to tens of thousands of genetically inferior lions living in captive squalor and destined for trophies or slaughtered for their bones.

“Captive lion breeding does not contribute to the conservation of wild lions and… legal trade in lion body parts risks stimulating demand and illegal trade, posing major risks to wild lion populations in South Africa and among vulnerable wild lion populations in other countries where poaching is on the rise,” says Dr Paul Funston, director at the international wild cat organisation, Panthera.

In addition, a recent study found that captive lion facilities create a dangerous breeding ground for zoonotic diseases, highlighting the potential health risk to thousands of tourists and staff working at the facilities.

According to Blood Lions, the first plan of action needs to be an immediate ban on captive breeding through sterilisation. Following that, there needs to be an audit to ascertain exact population numbers, the welfare of individual lions and the state of the facilities.

The audit will also reveal true sanctuaries from commercial breeding facilities. A true sanctuary provides a permanent home for animals and does not buy, sell, breed or trade-in animals or their parts, nor do they allow any human interaction.

“Strict guidelines on breeding, keeping, animal husbandry and welfare need to be imposed on such facilities, and a definition of a true sanctuary must be addressed in existing legislation.”

Environmental and animal welfare NGOs are now eagerly awaiting the DFFE’s Policy Paper to begin the process of shutting down the captive predator breeding industry. 

But lion breeders and canned hunting outfitters are frantically lobbying Creecy to reconsider her decision and many fear this an attempt to bully the minister into watering down the policy report, which would be a devasting blow to such a bold move by government.

In addition, there is a concern that lion breeders may begin illegally killing their lions and pushing the illicit lion bone trade before new legislation comes into effect and clamps down. 

“It’s a matter of urgency that the process is swift as we would hope that the industry is not allowed to flourish while details are being sorted,” says Michler. 

( Melissa Reitz is an investigative wildlife and environmental journalist. As the full-time staff writer for Animal Survival International , she aims to continue raising awareness to the issues impacting on wildlife and animals across the globe. Animal Survival International is a non-profit organization that acts as a voice for animals around the world to raise awareness and take action against the threats that endanger their survival. )

Supplied by: Animal Survival International

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Crisis of Cruelty in Canada’s Zoos

Animal Justice is releasing the largest investigation of zoos that has ever been undertaken in Canada. We visited nearly every zoo in Ontario—the roadside zoo capital of the country. Our video footage reveals widespread suffering, injuries, death, and troubling threats to public safety.

It’s crystal clear that animal suffering in zoos is rampant in Canada, which is why we’re urging the government to swiftly pass the Jane Goodall Act , a groundbreaking Senate bill that would protect captive wildlife.

Animals in Zoos Suffer Mental Anguish

Wild animals deserve to live free, but animals in zoos are confined to unnatural and stressful conditions behind bars. Being locked up in zoo enclosures often causes extreme psychological distress, which is made visible through unnatural, repetitive movements called stereotypies. Stereotypies can include pacing, rocking back and forth, and circling a cage. At nearly every facility we visited, we saw suffering animals exhibiting these behaviours.

Big cats and other carnivores like wolves and bears often suffer due to lack of space. These creatures have vast ranges in the wild, but in zoos, they often pace back and forth listlessly, with little else to do.

Animals Dead or Injured

At Saunders Country Critters, we found a dead rabbit decomposing in a cage with other live rabbits. This went unnoticed by zoo staff—until we pointed out. Bears are solitary animals by nature, but at Marineland, we saw bears forced to live together in a barren pit. The bears had visible gashes on their faces, which employees admitted was due to fighting.

Zoos Pose Risk to Public Safety

At several zoos, we identified serious public safety risks, including cages that were dirty and in disrepair, cages with holes, and guests in close contact with animals. At Reptilia in Vaughan, we alerted staff that a door to a reptile cage was left open.

At Waddles & Wags, an employee described on camera how one of their tortoises escaped, and they only found out about it because a neighbour called it in.

At Elmvale Jungle Zoo, one baby lemur was easily able to squeeze through holes in the cage fencing.

And shockingly, at Bervie Zoo, one staff member gave a tour while holding a baby, and standing right next to a cranky lion. 

Overall, many animals were kept in enclosures that weren’t sufficient to prevent escape, and some zoos failed to have perimeter fencing, putting the public at risk.

Small, Barren Enclosures

Many animals are kept in cages where they have little to do all day, or that are completely unsuited to their biological needs. For instance, we saw countless birds like parrots being kept inside cages where they weren’t free to fly more than a few metres at a time. For a flighted animal, this can be incredibly stressful.

Zoos often kept animals in unnatural social groupings, such as keeping a social animal like a monkey or crocodile all alone. Or a more solitary animals like a bear, kept in a large bear pit at Marineland with other bears. 

And while animals are often outside in the summer, many animals are warehoused inside tiny sheds during cold-weather months, with even less space to move around, and less to do.

Lack of Legal Protections for Captive Wildlife

Zoos in Canada are poorly regulated, and there are no federal laws, or mandatory inspections to protect animals in zoos.

Ontario is easily the roadside zoo capital of Canada, and has many zoos with exceptionally poor standards. This is because the government has allowed these subpar facilities to flourish. In Ontario, you can’t build a patio in their backyard without a permit, but you can open a zoo imprisoning dangerous, exotic animals—all without a license, permit, or oversight. Laws are so weak in Ontario that authorities can’t even close down a zoo, no matter how badly the animals are suffering.

It’s no better at the federal level. There are no federal laws or regulations protecting animals from being kept or forced to perform in zoos in Canada. Similarly, there are few rules protecting animals from being bred in Canada and trafficked around the world to other zoos, or to exotic animal dealers. At African Lion Safari, an employee admitted on camera that their elephant breeding program doesn’t result in any elephants actually being returned to the wild. Instead, it’s well-known that African Lion Safari is the North American hub for elephant trafficking—splitting up elephant families by selling off these magnificent creatures.

While Canadian zoos have been exposed for appalling conditions, governments and law enforcement authorities continually fail to act. Even in egregious cases of suffering, charges against zoos are rarely laid. For instance, an elephant named Lucy has been kept all by herself at the Edmonton Valley Zoo for well over a decade, suffering from serious health problems. It’s considered cruel to keep elephants alone, but authorities have never taken legal action against the zoo.

One of the most troubling zoos we visited, Waddles & Wags, even claimed that they “pass with flying colours” on their biannual inspections with Ontario animal welfare authorities.

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South Africa plans to end controversial captive lion industry

The country’s environment department will stop issuing permits to breed, keep, hunt, or interact with captive-bred lions.

South Africa has taken steps to end its multimillion-dollar lion-breeding industry, which supplies cubs for tourism, lions for trophy hunts, and bones for traditional medicine.

In a statement on May 2, Barbara Creecy, the minster of South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, acknowledged the “view that the captive lion breeding industry did not contribute to conservation and was doing damage to South Africa’s conservation and tourism reputation.”

With this announcement, the government will stop issuing permits to breed, keep, hunt, or interact with captive lions and is revoking current breeding permits. A number of factors are thought to have influenced this decision, including growing public opposition to the industry for being inhumane, possible links between legal and illegal trade in lion bones, and greater understanding of the diseases that animals can pass to humans.

It’s estimated that there are between 6,000 and 8,000 captive lions in private facilities throughout the country, but Ian Michler, the director of Blood Lions, a South African nonprofit dedicated to ending the captive lion industry, says there may be as many as 12,000.

There are about 2,000 wild lions in South Africa and an estimated 20,000 continent-wide. Their numbers have fallen by about half during the past quarter century as habitats have become fragmented and prey animals such as antelopes have become scarcer. Meanwhile, lions are coming into contact with people in rural communities more often, with deadly results for both. And according to Creecy, the legal trade in captive lion parts could increase poaching of wild populations.

Reports about South Africa’s captive lion industry have shown that the animals often are kept in inhumane conditions, such as in overcrowded spaces with poor nutrition and veterinary care. ( Take a look inside one of South Africa’s controversial lion farms. )

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Yesterday’s announcement therefore is seen not only as a win for conservationists but also for animal welfare advocates. “Thousands of farmed lions are born into a life of misery in South Africa every year in cruel commercial breeding facilities,” Edith Kabesiime, the wildlife campaign manager of the nonprofit World Animal Protection, wrote in an email. “This latest move by the government of South Africa is courageous—taking the first steps in a commitment to long-lasting and meaningful change. This is a win for wildlife.”

In some captive-breeding facilities around the country, tourists pay to pet, bottle-feed, and take selfies with lion cubs and walk alongside more mature animals. Critics say such interactive tourism leads to abuse and inhumane breeding practices such as speed breeding—the early removal of cubs from their mothers so they can produce more young.

Many captive lions are sold to hunting facilities at the end of their lives, Michler says, where they’re shot by trophy hunters, sometimes in “canned” hunts held in fenced areas. Trophy hunters keep the skins and heads, and their bones are often exported to Asia for use in traditional medicine.

South Africa set an annual quota for the number of lion skeletons that could be exported legally until 2018, when South Africa’s National Council of Societies for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals filed suit to stop the practice. That year, the government nearly doubled the department’s previous export quota, from 800 to 1,500.

Recommendations accepted  

In October 2019, Creecy formed a panel to review policies relating to the management, breeding, hunting, and trade of South Africa’s elephants, lions, leopards, and rhinos. In a nearly 600-page report submitted in December 2020, the panel recommended that in addition to banning captive keeping and breeding of lions and selling their parts, canned lion hunts and tourist interactions with captive lions (including cub petting) should end immediately. It also recommended the destruction of lion bone stockpiles and the humane euthanasia of all existing captive lions. (Captive animals released into the wild rarely survive because they never learned how to hunt and aren’t naturally afraid of humans.)

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Creecy and the South African cabinet announced that they have accepted the recommendations.

This is “huge,” Michler says. “We believe this is a significant shift in thinking and a fairly clear mandate from the minister to everyone that this has got to be phased out.”

It’s now up to South Africa’s parliament to make the recommendations law. Given the level of support from the government already, “we don’t foresee that it’s going to be turned down by parliament,” Michler says.

The South African Predator Association, a pro-captive breeding organization, did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael ’t Sas-Rolfes, a South African conservationist and economist who served on the panel, was among the minority who favor phasing out captive breeding of lions but keeping the lion bone trade. He advocates a “cautious approach”—a reformed, sustainable lion bone trade supplied from existing stockpiles, captive lion deaths, and possibly even managed wild populations in the future—until it’s known whether the trade can be ended “without stimulating a big cat poaching crisis.” ’T Sas-Rolfes warns that closing legal markets may drive the lion bone trade underground, where it’s more difficult to monitor and regulate. “This now effectively shuts off the last official legal conduit of big cat body parts to the market, worldwide,” he wrote in an email. “Whether that matters or not in terms of prices and poaching incentives remains to be seen.” The other minority opinion favored keeping the industry but increasing regulation.

Others argue that by supplying lion bones to Asian countries, South Africa has fueled demand. According to a 2018 report from the wildlife trade monitoring organization Traffic, anecdotal evidence suggests that there is increased demand for lion bone products in Vietnam. That’s in part because tiger bones, long favored, have become ever rarer as wild populations have declined to fewer than 3,200 today. Because tiger and lion bones are difficult to tell apart, greater demand could lead to more poaching of both species.

Neil D’Cruze, head of wildlife research at World Animal Protection, says the possibility that bans could increase illegal trade “is an issue that should not be ignored—but equally it’s not one that cannot be overcome.”

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment also accepted the panel’s recommendation that South Africa no longer press to reopen the rhino horn and ivory trades.

Wildlife Watch is an investigative reporting project between National Geographic Society and National Geographic Partners focusing on wildlife crime and exploitation. Read more Wildlife Watch stories here , and learn more about National Geographic Society’s nonprofit mission at natgeo.com/impact . Send tips, feedback, and story ideas to [email protected] .

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30 lions euthanized as devastating animal abuse uncovered on a farm

Johannesburg — Thirty captive-bred lions have been euthanized after they were found starving and untreated for serious injuries sustained when a wildfire swept through their compound in South Africa. One animal welfare charity called it "one of the worst cases of animal abuse" they'd ever seen.

Inspectors working for a South African branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) say the horrific abuse of 59 lions was discovered on a farm just outside Bloemfontein, the provincial capital of the Free State province in the heart of the country.

"The owner knew the lions got injured by the fires. For 5 days they didn't administer any medical treatment. We had no option, but to obtain a warrant to enter the property," the group said in a post on Facebook. "What we found shocked us to the bone."

The lions had been unable to escape the flames.

"They all laid in one spot with their paws turned upwards," reads the post, which included images of the wounded animals. "Their fragile bodies were burnt and their faces carried the devastating scars of the flames just days ago."

Some of the lions were so weak they couldn't stand up, and they were so famished that three of them turned on one of their own, killing and eating it.

Officers got a court order to search the property after reports of suspected abuse at the farm. Vets from the SPCA have been treating the injured animals for days now, but 30 of them were beyond help and had to be put down.

"The owner wasn't bothered to be present during any time of the inspection of the injuries nor during the euthanasia," the SPCA said on Facebook. "He was laughing when he was issued a warning and we didn't see him again. We issued multiple warnings for lack of water and shelter as we conduct daily inspections at the farm. The owner refuses to comply with any one of our warnings. He refuses to spend any money on these lions."

The property owner has been charged with animal abuse for failing to provide the lions with medical attention.

Inspectors continue to visit the farm regularly and they're making sure the animals get food and water and tending to their wounds. Senior SPCA Inspector Reniet Meyer told CBS News that the organization would continue to monitor the lions until the court hearing, and take further legal action if the abuse continues.

This latest incident has once again raised the issue of the legality of captive lion breeding in South Africa. At least 12,000 lions are kept in captivity in the country, four times more than its wild population. Every stage of a captive lion's life can be used, legally, to make money.

Cubs are separated from their mothers and kept in petting zoos for tourists. Adult lions are used for breeding and canned hunting tours — where they're released into enclosed areas so hunters are guaranteed a kill. And when the lions die, their bones are sold through a quota system for use primarily in Asian medicines and ornaments.

It's believed that the owner of the farm in Bloemfontein may have neglected to get the lions medical attention after the fire so that they would die "naturally," and he could then sell their bones for a profit, which wouldn't have been legal in a case of neglect.

"I have never been this angry in my 30 years at the Bloemfontein SPCA," Meyer wrote in the Facebook post. "The lion has huge status and as a country, we are supposed to be proud of our indigenous animals, but we have failed them. We cultivated an industry, legal or illegal, that misuses our animals for entertainment like hunting, bone trade, poaching, circus tricks, cub petting or keeping them in zoos or as pets. This must stop."

Born in captivity, unable to escape a devastating fire and now battling to overcome serious injuries — even the lions who survive this tragedy have never known freedom, and they likely never will.

CBS News' Nicky Parkin and Sarah Carter contributed to this report.

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Africa Alive: Lions to move to Whipsnade Zoo after enclosure damaged

Five lions from a zoo damaged during Storm Eunice have been moved to another animal park while their enclosure is repaired.

The animals from Africa Alive at Kessingland near Lowestoft, Suffolk, are now at Whipsnade Zoo.

The Bedfordshire zoo's lion habitat closed in January after keepers had to put its remaining two lions to sleep.

Africa Alive said it was "incredibly grateful" to Whipsnade for "stepping in and helping us in our hour of need".

The Suffolk zoo is currently closed after a number of trees were felled by high winds during Friday's storm, which brought down the lion enclosure fencing .

The Zoological Society of East Anglia (ZSEA) announced it would be relocating the lions while the fencing is replaced.

The male lions Zero, Tor and Jabu and lionesses Mo and Kaya will stay at Whipsnade Zoo until May.

ZSEA chief executive office, Claudia Roberts, said: "We are incredibly grateful to ZSL Whipsnade Zoo for stepping in and helping us in our hour of need and agreeing to take care of the lions while their enclosure at Africa Alive is fixed.

"Both teams have been working intensively over the past few days to ensure the welfare and safety of the pride and I would like to thank all those involved in making this happen."

Veteran lioness Sarabi, who was 16 ,was put to sleep on Wednesday after a period of several months of ill health.

Head of living collections, Graeme Williamson, said: "Given Sarabi's age and her health condition, the animal management team at Africa Alive, with support from the vet, all agreed that the kindest and most compassionate thing to do, was to sadly put her to sleep."

The venue added that it hoped it would reopen this weekend after the lions had been relocated.

Whipsnade Zoo announced in January that its lion habitat was closed for "the first time in decades" after it euthanised two African lions, Kia and Max, as they "were succumbing to a number of age-related conditions".

It followed the death of the pair's sibling Neo in November.

Zoological manager Matthew Webb said Whipsnade was "very glad" to be able to help ZSEA and was "really looking forward to getting to know the new pride during their stay".

"Our expert team of keepers and vets are working hard to ensure that Zero, Tor, Jabu, Mo and Kaya are settled and content, and the team at Africa Alive will be giving us lots of information about their likes, dislikes and daily routine so that they feel right at home here."

It said visitors would be able to see the pride in Whipsnade Zoo's African lion habitat from Thursday.

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Zoo shut after Storm Eunice damage

Zoo habitat closed after death of three lions, zoo to survey trees after escaped bears shot dead, brown bears shot dead after enclosure escape, attenborough warns london zoo risks 'extinction', aquarium aims to help 'extinct-in-the-wild' fish.