Zoo sells lions to African trophy hunting park
By Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 05. 9.10 A German zoo, the Serengeti-Park Hodenhagen, has sold three lions to a South African park known for offering inexperienced hunters the opportunity to join professionals in a hunt. Under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), African lions are endangered but not threatened. As such, African Lions do not benefit from the strict protections on import and export of species threatened with extinction. But a potential exporter must still present a “non-detriment finding” and have a permit for the export. What will become of the lions in Africa? According to reports in the German news daily Tagesspiegel, the owner of the Serengeti Park, Fabrizio Sepe, was assured after the German Ministry for the Protection of Nature contacted their partners in South Africa: the animals would be used only for photo-safaris and breeding programs, it was promised. But that has not calmed animal protection groups, who are advocating for stronger protection against zoo animals being sold for breeding if successive generations will be deliberately used to attract people to the sport of killing big cats. Advocates of the practice of “canned hunting” argue that breeding lions to be killed serves to protect animals in the wild. After all, there are people out there still seeking to prove their prowess in the “pinnacle of African Dangerous Game hunting”, (quote from a hunter’s forum where the fear of up-listing lions reigns). But the fact is that this booming trade is becoming desperate for “new blood” as successive generations of captive-bred lions become increasingly inbred. …
