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Category Big Cat Advocacy

29 Sep

PROHIBITING CERTAIN ACTIVITIES INVOLVING AFRICAN LION: IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S CAPTIVE LION INDUSTRY

PROHIBITING CERTAIN ACTIVITIES INVOLVING AFRICAN LION: IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR SOUTH AFRICA'S CAPTIVE LION INDUSTRY The EMS Foundation is pleased that the Minister and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment are finally initiating concrete steps against this distasteful industry. We thank them for it and encourage them to do more.

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30 Aug

URGENT: CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING EXPORT OF CHEETAH TO INDIA

URGENT: CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING EXPORT OF CHEETAH TO INDIA On the 30th of August 2023, Michele Pickover, the executive director of the EMS Foundation sent an urgent communication to Minister Barbara Creecy. Image Credit: Brian Abrahamson ©EMS Foundation 2023. All Rights Reserved.

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29 Aug

EMS FOUNDATION LETTER TO CHAIRPERSON OF THE MINISTERIAL TASK TEAM FOR THE CAPTIVE LION INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA

EMS FOUNDATION LETTER TO CHAIRPERSON OF THE MINISTERIAL TASK TEAM FOR THE CAPTIVE LION INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA ON THE 29TH AUGUST 2023 The content of the communication highlights the significant importance and the implications of the changes to NEM:BA. These implications include the fact that "wellbeing" now falls within the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and Minister Barbara Creecy's legal mandate. Furthermore, as a result of these changes to NEM:BA, it is, in the opinion of the legal opinion obtained by the EMS Foundation, competent for the Honourable Minister to institute some immediate actions.

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29 Aug

CLOSING OF THE CAPTIVE LION BREEDING INDUSTRY AND THE PROVISION OF A BASIC FRAMEWORK FOR THE RESOLUTION OF ISSUES RELATING TO THE COMMERCIAL CAPTIVE BREEDING OF LION AND OTHER BIG CATS

THE EMS FOUNDATION PROVIDES A CONSIDERED OPINION FOR THE CLOSING OF THE CAPTIVE LION BREEDING INDUSTRY AND THE PROVISION OF A BASIC FRAMEWORK FOR THE RESOLUTION OF ISSUES RELATING TO THE COMMERCIAL CAPTIVE BREEDING OF LION AND OTHER BIG CATS

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10 Aug

WORLD LION DAY 2023

WORLD LION DAY 2023 EXPORT OF 10 LIVE LIONS FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO THE LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC This is the tenth anniversary of World Lion Day which is celebrated on the 10th of August every year. It is a day dedicated to the global raising of awareness for the declining population of the big […]

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8 May

EMS FOUNDATION ADDITIONAL INPUT TO CITES SECRETARIAT FOLLOWING CITES TIGER MEETING WITH STAKEHOLDERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

EMS FOUNDATION ADDITIONAL INPUT TO CITES SECRETARIAT FOLLOWING CITES TIGER MEETING WITH STAKEHOLDERS IN SOUTH AFRICA “The EMS Foundation notes with concern the current welfare violations and health and wellbeing implications for tigers (and other big cats) held in captivity in South Africa as well as the obvious safety concerns for humans and the unacceptable […]

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19 Apr

SOUTH AFRICAN LION BONE TRADE

On the 21st of August 2018 Executive Director of the EMS Foundation, Michele Pickover and Director of Ban Animal Trading, Dr Smaragda Louw jointly presented the outcome of their eighteen month investigation into South Africa's role in the international lion bone trade at the Colloquium on Captive Lion Breeding for Hunting and the Lion Bone Trade.

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16 Feb

CONCERN ABOUT THE SOUTH AFRICAN CHEETAH RELOCATION TO INDIA PROJECT

On the 16th of February 2023 environmental lawyers, Cullinan and Associates, acting on behalf of the EMS Foundation sent an urgent communication to the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy. The communication raised concern about the proposed project to remove one hundred and twenty wild cheetah over a ten year period from South Africa and export them to India. The first twelve cheetah are destined to leave South Africa tomorrow, on Friday 17th of February 2023.

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20 Jan

ASIAN BIG CATS IN CAPTIVITY IN SOUTH AFRICA

Tigers are listed as CITES Appendix 1 animals and are highly endangered. The trade in these animals is regulated and overseen by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. DFFE has systematically over a number of years completely disregarded pleas from the NGO sector to close down this captive breeding facilities because of public safety concerns and the booming illegal tiger bone trade.

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26 Aug

NOMINATIONS FOR A MINISTERIAL LION TASK TEAM

On the 21st and 22nd of August 2018 a colloquium titled Captive Lion Breeding for Hunting in South Africa: Harmful or Promoting the Conservation Image of the Country was held in the Good Hope Chamber in Parliament in Cape Town. The Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Technologies of the People's Assembly, Mr Mohlopi Philemon Mapulane, acted as Chairperson of the colloquium. Michele Pickover, the Executive Director of the EMS Foundation and Dr Smaragda Louw, the Director and Chairperson of Ban Animal Trading presented a synopsis of the Extinction Business Report that the Colloquium.

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9 Nov

EMS FOUNDATION COMMENTARY ON THE PROPOSED 2021 LEOPARD HUNTING QUOTA

The Draft NDF was never finalized. At the Leopard Workshop, the DFFE indicated that at the time of the publishing of the Draft NDF, there was no reliable estimate for the South African leopard population, and thus this required this NDF to be revised because it is outdated. Plans to revise the Draft NDF are allegedly underway.

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10 Aug

WORLD LION DAY 2021

Focusing Exclusively on Lion Trophy Hunting The exploitation of wild animals has been identified as one of the dominant drivers of biodiversity loss, emergence of zoonotic infectious disease, animal suffering, and financial instability.  Lion populations have dropped by more than 40% in the past two decades. There are approximately 20000 wild lions in Africa, with only 3000 in South […]

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2 Aug

REMEMBERING SKYE – THE LEADER OF THE WESTERN PRIDE OF LIONS IN THE KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

“Trophy Hunting is a form of selective elimination of the strongest members of a pride, based on whatever distinction has been accepted in the hunting fraternity.”  DAVID MABUNDA The Umbabat Nature Reserve is a privately owned nature reserve situated adjacent to the Kruger National Park on the bank of the Nhlaralumi River in the Bushbuckridge […]

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6 Jul

SOUTH AFRICAN LION BREEDERS EXPORT LION CUB PETTING INDUSTRY TO IRAQ

Exporters and importers of wild animals circumvent CITES regulations and the South African government can no longer simply defer to CITES with regard to its export of wild animals. Despite the acknowledgement by political leaders, and a high level panel of experts, of the importance of reputation for future conservation success, nonetheless the international damage to South Africa’s reputation is allowed to continue unabated.

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6 Jun

CONFIRMATION OF THE SCALE OF THE CAPTIVE WILDLIFE INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA

The EMS Foundation, with partner organisations, was instrumental in demanding new policies for, amongst other, the captive-bred big cat industry and therefore should be involved in the new policy process for all categories of their submissions from the onset. The EMS Foundation co-authored and published a 204 page submission, with Animal Law Reform South Africa. This submission was presented to the High-Level Panel of Advisors to DFFE on the 15th June 2020.

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21 May

TROPHY HUNTING OF LEOPARDS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Exquisitely beautiful and elusive, leopards unsurprisingly form part of South Africa’s so-called iconic ‘Big Five’, yet their current conservation status is a population in persistent decline[1] and, alarmingly, they are extinct in 67% of South Africa

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9 May

THE CAPTIVE LION INDUSTRY – WHAT TO DO NEXT?

The EMS Foundation has been actively lobbying government on this issue since its inception in 2014. On the 27th of March 2020, the High-Level Panel of Experts, publicly requested written submissions to be made in respect of the management, breeding, hunting, trade, handling and related matters of elephant, lion, leopard, and rhino. On the 15th June 2020 the EMS Foundation and Animal Law Reform South Africa made a submission to the panel of experts, as did sixty-nine other organizations and individuals.  

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18 Apr

EMS FOUNDATION APPEALS FOR MORATORIUM ON THE LION BONE INDUSTRY

Until there is more information available about the risks of the captive breeding of lions and other big cats and the lion bone trade, both in terms of human health and to the survival of lions, a risk-averse and cautious approach requires that a moratorium is placed on the industry as outlined in the submission.

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25 Mar

A LOOMING CRISIS – THE CAPTIVE BIG CAT INDUSTRY, COVID_19 AND GOVERNMENT CULPABILITY

Since at least as far back as the late 1990s, various NGOs have warned your department about the harmful and negative effects of breeding lions (and other big cats) in captivity. Yet, the South African government has done nothing to slow the growth of the captive lion breeding industry, nor has it given any indication of wanting to do so. This letter lays bare the facts and calls for immediate action. First, it details the risks embedded in captive lion (and other big cat) breeding and why the industry should be terminated.

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21 Mar

The South African Captive Bred Lion Industry and Associated Global Health Risks

As a consequence of the extensive evidence presented against the captive big-cat breeding industry and its abhorrent offshoots such as canned hunting and the unregulated lion bone trade, Parliament instructed the Minister of Environmental Affairs (at the time) and her Department – in December 2019 – to shut down the industry, which is a major ethical, legal and administrative embarrassment for South Africa. 

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7 Feb

CORONA VIRUS – THE EMS FOUNDATION CALLS ON MINISTER CREECY TO END THE LION BONE TRADE

Lion bones are being used as an alternative to tiger bones in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Tiger Bone Wine has been used in TCM for a thousand years or more for the treatment of rheumatism, although there are no known medicinal properties. Over a thousand lions are killed annually in South Africa for this trade. The trade is not regulated and as is explained in our letter to Minister Creecy there are no health and safety regulations in place. This trade is putting the lives at risk of the South Africans employed in this bizarre trade. As has been clearly demonstrated with the SARS virus and now with the new CORONA virus trading in lion bone with unknown medical consequences is irresponsible to say the least.

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30 Aug

No Governance, No Science and No Sustainability in South Africa’s Captive Lion Breeding Industry

It has been clear for a long time that – to put it euphemistically – there has been a catastrophic absence of governance in South Africa’s captive lion breeding industry. The national Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) is tone-deaf to the global scientific community’s abhorrence of the industry. A strong indicator of zero governance is that DEFF repeatedly says that it does not know how many lions are in captivity in South Africa and how many facilities are involved in the various immoral activities associated with the industry (such as unregulated slaughter for the lion bone market). For this reason, in May 2019 the EMS Foundation submitted a request under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), no. 2 of 2000 to get an answer to these questions.

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18 Jun

Determination of the 2019 Leopard Trophy Hunting Quota Submission

From Members of the Wildlife Animal Protection Forum South Africa to Minister and Department of Environment Forestry and Fisheries, 18 June 2019. © Copyright EMS Foundation 2019. All rights reserved.

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17 Jun

2019 Lion Bone Quota Submission

WILDLIFE ANIMAL PROTECTION FORUM SOUTH AFRICA SUBMISSION TO MINISTER BARBARA CREECY For the determination of the 2019 Lion Bone Quota – Submission from Twenty-Five NGOs represented by the Wildlife Animal Protection Forum South Africa to Minister and Department of Environment Forestry and Fisheries, 17 June 2019. © Copyright EMS Foundation 2019. All rights reserved.

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21 Feb

CALL FOR MORATORIUM ON HUNTING IN THE ASSOCIATED PRIVATE NATURE RESERVES SOUTH AFRICA

CALL FOR MORATORIUM ON HUNTING IN THE KRUGER NATIONAL PARKS ASSOCIATED PRIVATE NATURE RESERVES The purpose of this letter is request an urgent undertaking from SANParks that it will not sign a new agreement between themselves and the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) until the process that the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs directed […]

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13 Nov

SA Parliament hits out at Captive Lion Breeding & the Lion Bone Trade

In a move to hold the wayward Department of Environmental Affairs to account, and signalling the beginning of the end of the captive and canned lion industry in South Africa, the official Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Affairs Report and Recommendations on the Captive Lion industry in South Africa has been published.

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26 Sep

Lion Cubs Born Through Artificial Insemination at Ukutula Conservation Centre & Biobank

The undersigned includes some of the world’s leading lion conservation and research organisations, and representatives from multiple sectors including animal welfare, animal protection, multi-cultural and faith-based NGO’s. Based on our cumulative knowledge and experience, we do not support the captive breeding of lions, whether assisted or not, because it does not contribute to biodiversity conservation or address the main threats to wild lion conservation. Furthermore, the captive lion breeding industry in South Africa is associated with the exploitation of lions through interaction activities (lion cub petting and lion walks), canned trophy hunting of lions (the trophy hunting of tame lions in enclosed spaces) and the lion skeleton trade.

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15 Jun

Kruger Lions: Hunting for Skye and the Truth

Let’s get this straight. The gratuitous killing of wild animals for pleasure and profit under the guise of conservation is not only highly contested and refutable, but is at the heart of the public outrage over the trophy killing of a male lion on the borders of the Kruger National Park last week".

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5 Mar

Call for Thai Government to Revoke Zoo Licence for Business Behind Notorious Tiger Temple

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery/2012-the-tourist-tiger-trail A total of 28 NGOs have today called on the Government of Thailand to revoke a zoo licence for the business behind the infamous Tiger Temple. The Tiger Temple – a tourist attraction and captive tiger facility notorious for tourist ‘tiger selfies’ – has been repeatedly implicated in illegal trade in tiger parts, as […]

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