In South Africa, lion cubs are farmed by the thousands.
First, they are ripped from their mothers. Then, they are handed to naive paying tourists that bottle feed them, innocently thinking they are saving them from death. When they start to become too old to bottle feed, they are taken for walks, again with paying tourists. And then, when they are fully grown, they are released in small enclosures where they are brutally killed, again by paying tourists. This time, trophy hunters.
When they are dead, the hides are sold to hunters, the bones and teeth and other body parts shipped to Asia.
It is a billion dollar scheme that takes advantage of unaware "volunteers" and tourists who are told that the animals are orphans and will be released into the wild. And lions are not the only species involved: tigers, leopards and cheetahs are all used for the same exploitation scheme.
This has to be stopped, and every angle has to be covered.
We ask that the South African government start creating laws to protect their fauna from this life of misery and torture, by banning interaction with any wild animal that is less than a year old. This should quell the worst part of the trade and help raise awareness to this parasitic practice that does nothing for conservation and instead fuels the wildlife trade and animal abuse.
