New report Finds Captive Lion Reintroduction Programmes in Africa Operate Under “Conservation Myth”

New York, NY

 A new report published in the international conservation journal Oryx concludes that commercial 'wildlife encounter' operations across Africa promoting the reintroduction of captive lions do little to further the conservation of African lions in the wild.

Released 'Early Online' on July 31, 'Walking with lions: Why there is no role for captive-origin lions (Panthera Leo) in species restoration,' was authored by a blue-ribbon panel of lion conservationists and wild cat biologists from Panthera, the IUCN Cat Specialist Group and a team of university-based lion researchers. Demonstrating that no lions have been successfully released as a result of this process, the report determines that commercial captive lion reintroduction programs operate largely under a 'conservation myth.'

The last two decades has seen a rapid growth of such operations especially across Southern Africa. Advertised as 'wildlife encounters,' the programs typically charge tourists and paying volunteers to pet, feed and walk with hand-raised and so-called tame lions. To the paying public, the stated objective is the eventual release to the wild of lions.

The Oryx paper assesses the potential of these programs to assist wild lion conservation by evaluating the role and suitability of captive lions for release. The report concludes that captive-bred lions are simply unnecessary for reintroduction projects. For more than two decades, wild lions have been translocated and rigorously monitored in over 40 parks across southern Africa with high success rates. Over 500 wild lions have been re-established by this process. More importantly, the evaluation shows that captive-bred lions and their offspring are poorly suited for survival and release compared to their wild-born counterparts.

The report's senior author and Panthera's President, Dr. Luke Hunter, explained, "The simple fact is, 'lion encounter' type programs do little to help conserve wild lions. We show that any sincere effort to re-establish lions simply has no reason to resort to captive animals; wild lions are already much better equipped to be wild. Releasing captive animals unnecessarily increases the costs, risks of failure and the danger - to both lions and humans."

A tourist was recently attacked at a lion encounter operation in Zimbabwe. She made a full recovery.

The report also claims that captive-lion enterprises divert critical resources and attention from projects making a real impact on declining wild lion populations. Dr Paula White, an author of the paper and Director of the Zambia Lion Project at the University of California notes, "These operations charge the public to spend time with tame lions claiming that it contributes meaningfully to lion conservation. Imagine if that funding, and the sincere interest of the people paying it, was devoted to addressing the real reasons that wild lions are declining and threatened. Spending money to breed lions behind fences is not helping."

While perhaps more than 200,000 wild lions lived in Africa over a century ago, their numbers are now thought to be fewer than 30,000. Listed as 'Vulnerable' by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and extirpated from over 80% of its natural range, the lion is now on track to share the fate of its distant cousin, the Endangered tiger.

Dr. Matthew Becker, CEO of the Zambian Carnivore Programme (and not an author on the report) notes “Certainly interacting with tame lions is a unique experience, but it's not conservation. We have such 'Walking with Lions' programs in Zambia and they require a continual stream of young imported lions, which live out their days in captivity because they are not suitable for release. Zambia doesn't need captive-bred lions versus increased protection of its wild populations and ecosystems. Help lions by supporting the classic walking safaris that occur in our magnificent protected areas - that's the real walking with lions."

Along with Panthera's team of lion experts and Paula White, the Oryx publication was co-authored by Cole Burton (University of Alberta), Andrew Loveridge (Oxford University), and Panthera's Cat Advisory Council Member's Laurence Frank, and Christine and Urs Breitenmoser, who additionally chair the International Union for the Conservation of Nature/Species Survival Commission's Cat Specialist Group.

Download the paper 'Walking with lions: Why there is no role for captive-origin lions (Panthera Leo) in species restoration'

One of my favourite South African safari camps.

Tanda Tula sits in the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve on the edge of Kruger National Park and captures the essence of the safari camp, transporting visitors back to an earlier age of wildlife vacations. 

The camp is small and the feel is intimate, with each staff member personally introducing themselves and joining you for meals, drinks or a game of Jenga in front of the fire. There are no TVs, neither in the tents nor the communal area – instead there’s a library of South African books, a big box of games and a permanently-manned bar well-stocked with two of the most important ingredients for any safari break – gin and tonic!

And then there is the wildlife.

There are now no fences between Timbavati and the Kruger so you stand an excellent  chance of seeing any one of the Big Five as well as plenty of other, equally interesting animals – and with the camp unfenced, it’s not unusual to see some of them wandering near your tent.

Naturally, animal sightings are always different, but camp guide, Scotch, ensures that he always has something to talk about, memorising the page numbers or every bird regularly sighted in the area to wow you with, in between glimpses of the mammals most people come to see.

Guests have tracked wild dogs on a hunt, spent time with litter of hyena pups sniffing at the  tyres, witnessed a leopard saving its kill from a marauding hyena and seen a two-month-old elephant attempting to see them off with a trumpet and an ear-flap that was more adorable than alarming.

Tanda Tula is a top destination – no wonder our clients keep coming back for more!

Zimbabwe to ask permission to sell ivory stocks

HARARE, Aug 22  - Zimbabwe has accumulated 50 tonnes of ivory and will ask the international body regulating its trade for permission to auction its stocks to fund conservation of the animals, the head of the country's wildlife agency said on Wednesday.
The ivory has been confiscated from poachers or recovered as a result of natural deaths or government-sanctioned elephant culls, officials said.
Zimbabwe says it needs to raise extra funds to deal with its burgeoning elephant population, which at about 100,000 is one of the largest in Africa.

Adult elephants consume about 100 to 300 kgs (220 to 660 pounds) of food a day, studies have shown, and officials say their growing numbers are straining the impoverished country's resources and posing a threat to plant life.
Some $30 million is required each year for conservation of the animals and anti-poaching in Zimbabwe, but Vitalis Chadenga, director-general of the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority,
told Reuters the current budget was "very far from there".

"There is a point where our elephant population can get so much to a point where they self destruct and this is happening in some of the parks," he said.

In 2008, Zimbabwe was allowed to conduct a one-off sale of 3.9 tonnes of ivory by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the international group that governs trade in plants and animals.
Plagued by corruption, Zimbabwe provided detailed documents to CITES showing how the money raised from the sale went directly into conservation.
Zimbabwe faces an October deadline to make its request to CITES if it wants to quickly sell the tusks.
However, conservationists worry the sale could fuel demand for ivory, especially in the fast-growing emerging economic powers of Asia where it is often used in carved ornaments.
Although elephants are prolific in Zimbabwe, poaching and a loss of habitat have made them a threatened species in large parts of Africa.
A global ban on the ivory trade was imposed in 1989 and was widely credited with stemming the relentless slaughter of African elephants in countries such as Kenya.
Occasional auctions from African government stockpiles have since been sanctioned. Chadenga said the global ban was not working. We have not had a legitimate sale of ivory now but we continue to have an upsurge in poaching," he said.