We Don’t Breed to Kill, We Breed to Hunt

Two wild lions in Tanzania

Lion breeders in South Africa are hopping mad over new regulations that would require them to release lions for at least two years before they can be hunted.

Normally, these lions are raised on game farms where they are confined and fenced in before being shot and killed by trophy hunters. Some of these ranches may span thousands of acres, others may be small with fencing in plain sight. All profit off of the breeding and killing of lions for trophy purposes.

Here’s the strange irony: Lion breeders claim there will be a slaughter if they have to follow these new regulations. In  Carel van Heerden, the chairman of the South African Predator Breeders’ Association’s words, “We don’t breed lions to kill them, we breed them to hunt them.”

I mean, seriously? These people breed lions to hunt them but not to kill them? Last time I checked, the end-game of a hunt is a corpse. If you wish to hunt a lion without killing them, then don’t tote around a gun and stop, you know, shooting them. Take a picture. It will indeed last longer.

Lion breeders are arguing that the 4,000+ lions held in captivity in South Africa will face slaughter if these new regulations pass while simultaneously accepting thousands of dollars from a bunch of white dudes to slaughter these lions. The failed logic boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

We don’t need to hunt to survive. We certainly do not need to hunt lions to survive. And for lion breeders to claim this has anything to do with animal welfare is pretty silly. It’s about money. Period.

The Campaign Against Canned Hunting has some information on this particular subject.

Photo by: wwarby