Under the lion’s paw: lion farming in South Africa and the illegal international bone trade

The African lion Panthera leo is subject to numerous anthropogenic pressures across its natural range. In South Africa, although free ranging populations are increasing, the number of lions in captivity in private commercial facilities far outnumber those in the wild. South Africa’s captive lion industry was reportedly created primarily to generate income and take pressure off wild populations through the supply of captive-bred lions for trophy hunting. However, the industry has become a highly contentious topic under ongoing international scrutiny and debate. Here, we present new information from direct interviews with workers at two closed-access lion facilities located in North West Province, on how some facilities continue to use legal activities, such as captive breeding and hunting, to facilitate their involvement in the illegal international felid bone trade. The sources also report other illegal and unethical activities including animal welfare violations, unsafe conditions for workers, potential shifts to the commercial exploitation of other felid species such as tigers Panthera tigris and incidents involving poaching of captive lions and tigers by non-affiliated actors. Sources described how some facilities use various tools and tactics, such as security cameras, patrols and messaging apps to avoid detection during inspections. If the South African Government is to be successful in meeting its publicly stated goal of ending the captive lion industry, a comprehensive well-managed plan to transition away from current practices is required. To aid enforcement, the industry should also be fully audited, with all facilities officially registered, a moratorium on the breeding of lions and plans put in place to prevent the stockpiling of lion bones.