Source: IOLscitech
AP
Avaaz unveiled a hard-hitting ad campaign in Johannesburg
Airport's International Arrivals Hall, South African Airways' inflight magazine,
and Google search engines, calling on President Zuma to ban the trade of lion
bones to make fake medicines sold in Asia.
Paris - Lion bones have become a hot commodity for their
use in Asian traditional medicine, driving up exports from South Africa to the
East and creating new fears of the survival of the species.
Conservationists are already angry over lion trophy
hunting.
The skeletons are mostly shipped to Vietnam and Laos,
feeding conservationists' fears that the market will drive up lion poaching -
just as the illegal hunting of rhinos escalates for their horns, also popular in
Asian traditional remedies.
“Suddenly, and very recently, there are a great number of
people from Laos who have a big interest for trophy hunting. And that had never
happened in the whole history of Laos!” said Pieter Kat from conservation NGO
LionAid.
Around 500 lions are hunted legally every year in South
Africa, most of them from commercial lion breeding farms which also supply zoos
all over the world.
Until recently hunters paid $20,000 (about R160 000) just
for a trophy to hang above the fireplace, and the carcass was thrown to the
dogs.
But their crushed bones have become popular as substitute
for the bones of tigers in love potions or “tiger wine”. Trade in tiger parts is
banned under international law as the animal is a threatened species.
Now Asian hunters buy lion trophy hunting permits to get
at the bones.
“They prefer hunting lionesses, whose $4,000 price tag is
more affordable than the males,” Kat told AFP.
Most swear it's about the trophy, which means safari
operators and breeders can easily dispose of the carcass at the same time and
make an extra buck.
A lion skeleton these days fetches up to $10,000.
A few hundred partial or complete lion skeletons were
shipped out of the country in 2010, according to latest official figures - all
completely legal.
The trade started in 2008.
“That trade is monitored very, very closely by provincial
officers,” said Pieter Potgieter, chairman of the South African Predator
Breeders Association.
“They don't release the bones unless they are sure that
they come from a legally hunted lion or that the lion died of natural causes.”
But activists cry foul play, saying it is worsening the
captive breeding of lions for what has come to be known as “canned” hunting.
“Lions are now being specifically bred in captivity to be
'harvested' for their bones,” said Paul Hart, who runs a lion sanctuary in the
south west of the country.
Animal rights groups also say some cats are killed off on
the sly, a theory possibly supported by the nabbing of illegal exporters at OR
Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
Breeders are also coy about the number of lions they have
on their farms. South Africa is thought to have 5,000 in captivity.
But the bones of wild lions - thought to be more potent -
are worth even more in Asia, which threatens the 3,000 big cats left in the
country's reserves, animal rights groups say.
Around 700,000 people signed an online petition asking
President Jacob Zuma to suspend lion bone exports from his country.
“It is just a question of time before the poachers find
their way in this market and kill the lions. Why should they go and buy an
expensive carcass from a breeder if they can poach it and get it for nearly
nothing?” said Chris Mercer from the Campaign Against Canned Hunting.
Breeders deny the lion bone trade will spark poaching
similar to that of rhinos. Almost 500 were killed last year alone for their
horns, whose trade is banned.
“If lion bone is available legally, on the market, why
would anyone choose to take all the risks and costs associated with poaching?
“The South African lion breeding industry can supply a
lot of demand, and we can make a contribution towards the saving of the Asian
tigers and also the South African lions,” Potgieter defended.
Groups are divided over the dilemma: maintain a legal and
regulated trade in lion carcasses from animals bred in captivity or outlaw the
trade and risk a spike in poaching.
Authorities, meanwhile, have remained silent. - AFP
Source link:
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario