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.

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. 

he growing appetite for 'conservation holidays' has shone a light on the dark – and poorly regulated – industry of lion farming, where felines are destined not to be 'released into the wild' - but to be shot by trophy hunters and their bones exported to Asia for use in traditional medicine.

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.

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

Many big cat cubs that are exhibited and petted at wildlife facilities end up being killed as a result of canned hunting.

In 2019, animal welfare inspectors visited Pienika Farm, a captive-lion facility in the North West province of South Africa.

The South African government made a landmark decision in May 2021 to end the country’s controversial captive lion industry.

In the wake of the bow-hunting of Mopane the lion, we searched for some literature and expert commentary on the sustainability of the trophy hunting of free-roaming lions in Africa, particularly around Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.

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.

Are fenced lions happy? This is not as far-fetched a question as one might think.

I knew lions were hunted for sport in South Africa. I had seen the pictures on social media which always caused such outrage. A magnificent animal lying lifeless at the feet of a smiling human holding a rifle.

Canned lion hunting, a practice where lions bred in captivity are hunted in confined enclosures, has been a controversial yet lucrative industry in South Africa.

An estimated 8,000 lions are held in captivity in South Africa in about 350 places, ranging from zoos to tourism venues where people can interact up close with the big cats.