According to a scientific report about to be released by the South African Institute of International Affairs, The Economics of Captive Predator Breeding in South Africa, the burgeoning lion bone trade, canned lion hunting, cub petting and “voluntourism” are doing escalating damage to the image of South Africa as a tourism destination.

A damning report on South Africa’s lion bone trade has called for the end of the trade, a forensic investigation into the affairs of lion breeders and a restriction on the keeping and breeding of lions and tigers.

“That’s fresh, just a few hours old,” says Kris Everatt, pointing at a clear print of a lion’s paw in the hot dust. “It’s the ghost pride.”

A billion dollars. That’s approximately what it would cost, to save the African lion. That’s a billion dollars each year, every year into the foreseeable future.

The use of lion parts in commercial trade is one of the major emerging threats to wild lions and could facilitate illegal trade.

Canned lion hunting and the subsequent captive lion breeding across South Africa, believed to fuel the notorious industr, has for a number of years been a blemish on Brand SA's safari and wildlife appeal. 

Lions in Namibia have turned to hunting seabirds and seals in the face of scarce food resources in the desert landscape, research has found.

The world’s leading lion scientists argue that captive predator breeding has no conservation value. Successful reintroduction from captivity into the wild among large felids is extremely rare.

It was the overpowering stench and the thick swarm of flies that told Reinet Meyer she had stumbled upon something truly horrific.

Trophy hunting in Africa is no different to the harvesting of surplus wild animals by farmers in countries like Sweden to keep populations at sustainable levels. And it is largely because of hunting that South Africa and Namibia have been responsible for the world’s biggest-ever rewilding of former agricultural land. 

Recent research has revealed that lion populations in southern Africa show a significant loss of genetic diversity, and the negative trend has been traced to when European colonial settlers arrived in the area, and to the outbreak of rinderpest in the region.

A British safari boss is charging callous trophy hunters thousands of pounds to kill lions that have been bred in captivity, The Mail can reveal.

A South Africa without lions – one of the iconic Big Five species – is unimaginable. But we could soon face a world without these magnificent African ambassadors, as the breeding of lions for commercial purposes continues to flourish, said FOUR PAWS.

Kruger National Park remains one of the most important strongholds for African lions in southern Africa, forming the core of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area. This cross-border system allows lions to move between South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, maintaining genetic diversity and supporting regional populations.

THESE harrowing images reveal how a legal Big Cat farming industry is thriving around the world with helpless animals kept in tiny wire cages.

Many animal lovers flock to farms offering the opportunity to interact with a cub or walk with lions; but if you truly love animals, you need to give this disturbing industry a skip, explains FOUR PAWS South Africa’s country director, Fiona Miles.

A new report by global NGO, World Animal Protection, provides a damning indictment on the captive predator breeding industry.

Cheetahs in the Serengeti National Park change their behaviour when handling large kills based on the threats present by lions and hyenas, according to researchers.

Zambia, a country in southeast Africa, has approximately 1,200 lions, one of the largest lion populations on the continent. More than 40% of the U-shaped country is protected land, with over 120,000 square miles of national parks, sanctuaries and game management areas for lions to roam.

Lions, cheetahs, rhinos and zebras were among 33 wild species which became farm animals as of May this year when the South African Parliament approved a brief amendment to the Animal Improvement Act (AIA) which governs livestock breeding.