Fears of a rise in poaching as Asian traders look for alternatives to tigers as a source of ingredients for traditional medicine
Editor’s Note: There you have it: Basically an orphan issue.
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Between massive corruption in all major nations, their leaderships more concerned with the pirouettes of warmongering, thieving, and imperialism than decent governing; the appalling and growing—tolerated—backwardism of China and other Asian lands in connection with wild animals; the unchanging depravity of hunters, an international pestilence whose bloodlust is still certified as “legal” in most societies, and the equally revolting greed of “animal entrepreneurs” everywhere…and you have the prescription for the rapid extinction of yet another species. So now we must add the lions to the lengthening roster of vanishing species, along with rhinos and elephants and tigers and whales and so many others. All magnificent and all persecuted by human scum in all continents, human scum well connected with the politicians that run such affairs, or human scum that operate in the name of “tradition”, or with the tacit consent of shitsoul politicians.
Folks, this is the 21st century. History shows us where this wanton exploitation of anything—man, beast or nature—leads. There is no excuse. And all of this happening right before our eyes while the media as usual do little, the masses remain largely apathetic or distracted by their daily dose of escapism, and the rest of the living planet continues its journey to total collapse. It’s a perfect political storm guaranteed to destroy everything that is beautiful, precious and innocent on this earth.
I have long proposed the obvious: that the major nations, beginning with the Benighted States of America include strong clauses of environmental and animal defense in their foreign policy, a policy supported by an enlightened public and enforced by the UNO. Only then we could put a stop to these crimes and perhaps turn the tide. In such a sensible and compassionate world, no one like Koos Hermanus should be issued a license to breed captive lions just to be shot for someone’s gain (and some bastard’s pleasure). But where do you get such enlightened publics in a world pre-empted by the corporate media and their interminable litany of ludicrous priorities, distortions, omissions and idiocies? What citizen pressure is there to force corrupt and mediocre politicians to take critical, prompt and imaginative action on such immensely important issues, when their time is spent accommodating a long line of plutocratic interests and the constant pressure of organized backwardism at home, forces that include a know-nothing dominionistic Christanity, the hunting/NRA lobbies, and similar toxic “constituencies”? And so it goes in America, the self-proclaimed bastion of “Christianity and compassion,” and her carbon copies across the world. Pity the innocent animals, they have no future in this once beautiful planet. Human excrement will destroy us all.—P. Greanville
Highly prized … the growing market for lion bones offers breeders a way of boosting their earnings. Photograph: Alamy
Koos Hermanus would rather not give names to the lions he breeds. So here, behind a 2.4-metre high electric fence, is 1R, a three-and-a-half-year-old male, who consumes 5kg of meat a day and weighs almost 200kg. It will only leave its enclosure once it has been “booked”‘ by a hunter, most of whom are from the United States. At that point the big cat will be set loose in the wild for the first time in its life, 96 hours before the hunt begins. It usually takes about four days to track down the prey, with the trophy hunter following its trail on foot, accompanied by big-game professionals including Hermanus. He currently has 14 lions at his property near Groot Marico, about two and a half hours by road west of Johannesburg.
After the kill Hermanus will be paid $10,000, but he can boost his earnings further by selling the lion’s bones to a Chinese dealer based in Durban. At $165 a kilo (an average figure obtained from several sources) the breeder will pocket something in the region of $5,000.
If his client does not want to keep the lion’s head as a trophy, the skull will fetch another $1,100. “If you put your money in the bank you get 8% interest,” he explains, “but at present lions show a 30% return.”
According to several specialists the new market is soaring. “In the past three months we have issued as many export licences as in a whole year,” says an official in Free State, home to most of South Africa‘s 200 lion breeders. In 2012 more than 600 lions were killed by trophy hunters. The most recent official figures date from 2009, certifying export of 92 carcasses to Laos and Vietnam. At about that time breeders started digging up the lion bones they had buried here and there, for lack of an outlet.
Asian traders started taking an interest in South African lions in 2008, when the decline in tiger numbers – now in danger of extinction – became acute. In traditional Chinese medicine, tiger wine, made using powdered bones, allegedly cures many ills including ulcers, cramp, rheumatism, stomach ache and malaria. The beverage is also claimed to have tonic qualities, boosting virility.
Despite the lack of scientific proof this potion is very popular, so with tiger bones increasingly scarce, vendors are replacing them with the remains of lions. Traders soon realised that South Africa could be a promising source. It is home to 4,000 to 5,000 captive lions, with a further 2,000 roaming freely in protected reserves such as the Kruger national park. Furthermore such trade is perfectly legal.
But a South African investigator, who has been working in this field for 35 years, paints a murky picture. “The legal market only accounts for about half the business, the other half depends on fraud and poaching, which make it possible to obtain bigger volumes, more quickly, and without attracting attention,” he asserts, adding: “It’s exactly the same people buying lion bones and poaching rhino horns. It’s all connected.”Sentenced to 40 years in prison last November for fraudulently obtaining and exporting rhino horns, the Thai trafficker Chumlong Lemtongthai also purchased lion bones on his trips to South Africa. “At the end of last year, at Johannesburg international airport, we intercepted several lion bones among bits of rhino horn and ivory, all in a packet ready for despatch,” says Hugo Taljaard, head of the Revenue Service’s detector dog units. In six months’ time South Africa will have 16 dogs trained to detect the smell of lion bones, compared with only two at present.
In June 2012 an online petition calling on President Jacob Zuma to ban the export of lion bones and body parts attracted 750,000 signatures. “The fact that the business is legal just fuels demand, but with the supply-side unable to keep up, buyers will increasingly switch to lions that are still in the wild, including elsewhere in Africa, despite them being endangered,” warns Pieter Kat at the NGO LionAid. “To prevent that risk, it would be better to let us cater for growing demand,” counters Pieter Potgieter, head of the South African Predator Breeders Association.
“As the price of bones is rising steadily, some breeders have started slaughtering their own lions, without obtaining a permit or getting a vet to put the animal to sleep,” says a fraud inspector. “But with the present wave of rhino poaching, we’ve neither the time nor the resources to address the problem.”
• This story appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from Le Monde
Debe decirse: este Koos Hermanus de Sud Africa es un gran hijo de puta, un desgraciado que empaña el honor y moralidad de la especie humana. Dberían vender su pellejo inmundo en vez de estos animales de los cuales se enriquece. Maldito!
René Carvallo
Santiago
SELECT COMMENTS FROM ORIGINAL THREAD RANDOMGREATNESS 16 April 2013 8:24pm @Fezz76 – You need to understand that the most destructive products for the enviroment are those marketed to middle upper class as must haves by multimillion dollar budget advertizing, day in day out. 88% of these products serve no other purpose than to briefly impress and then be burried in a home filled to the top with similar objects. Peasants, as you call them, are those making them on slim salaries whilst taking in toxic substances, turning into poachers and the likes. Above we are talking about american hunters coming… Read more »
China prides itself on being number one…. so too with animal abuse, there is no nation with a wider range of abuses, confronting every animal imaginable than in china. With increased wealth the chinese have expanded their repertoire of cruelty. One such innovation is consists of placing a live dog in a fire resistant sac, then placing the sac in an oven where the dog is roasted. I sent a protest letter regarding this attrocity, with little avail. The embassies do not respond to such concerns… Therefore, I will not buy anything made in china…. and yes, this is possible.… Read more »
The following was sent to protest the roasting of live dogs in china: “Cruelty to animals is one of the distinguishing vices of low and base minds. Wherever it is found, it is a certain mark of ignorance and meanness; a mark which all the external advantages of wealth, splendour, and nobility, cannot obliterate. It is consistent neither with learning nor true civility.” William Jones A Civilized Nation? dedicated to the dog in the sack There are those who believe that China is a great and ancient civilization, worthy of respect. Beneath the veneer of culture and wealth, lurks a… Read more »
One problem is that there are so many issues of abuse confronting activists. We cannot focus on all of them at once without going crazy. I’ve become a bitter woman over the years. I absolutely abhor humanity at this point. At present, I am focusing on the wild and domestic horse slaughter issue. We won’t have any more wild horses left by the end of this century, or sooner, if things go in the direction they are presently heading. And, we will have numerous horse abattoirs if we don’t stop the corporations and the pols who are in their pockets.… Read more »
It saddens me to think that those who care the most for animals are so hurt by the cruelty of others. I am learning to acknowledge the horrors of every manner of abuse, in the case of the wild horses – culls, but to preserve my sense of well-being. It does not serve the animals if we allow the abusers to harm us as well. There is nothing they would like more, as this gives them free reign. To this end, of remaining spiritually whole, I have several resources, the one which gives me hope for animals is to see… Read more »
Val, There are so many issues, and so much public apathy because there is no sound moral foundation of compassion for animals. Compassion and concern for animals cannot be based on the domination and control of them, granted by dominion. When the foundation is based on the sturdy foundation of unconditional compassion for animals, as is the case in India, it is possible to tackle many issues with success.