On World Animal Day on 4th October 2020, we presented the South African government with a petition containing close to a quarter of a million signatures calling for the humane and permanent closure of commercial captive predator breeding industry and its associated activities, including captive lion trophy hunting and the export of lion skeletons for commercial purposes.
Born Free has also consistently opposed the private ownership, breeding and trade in rhinos, and any resumption of the international trade in rhino horn, demand for which has led to the devastation of already threatened rhino populations by poachers, particularly in South Africa. In 2016, our co-founder and Executive President Will Travers debated this very issue at the Royal Institution in London with John Hume, until recently the owner of the largest number of privately held rhinos in South Africa. We have also defended the international ban on rhino horn trade at CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), and made a number of representations to South Africa’s government urging for the reintroduction of the domestic ban on rhino horn trade, which was overturned in the courts following action taken by private rhino owners in 2017.
Several public consultations on draft policy options for wildlife management have followed, throughout which we have firmly maintained our call for an end to the cynical commercial exploitation of lions, rhinos and other wildlife.
Dr Jones concluded: “The South African authorities have delayed long enough. They now need to implement the phasing out of lion and rhino farming and breeding without delay, and with all due regard for the welfare of any affected animals. We stand ready to engage in discussions on how the policies might be effectively and humanely implemented, and urge the authorities to extend the phase-out process to other wild species, both indigenous and exotic, that are currently bred and kept for commercial exploitation in the country.”
However, Born Free is also calling on the South African authorities to retract and rethink the recently published draft National Biodiversity Economy Strategy which would, if implemented, seek to substantially increase the commercial exploitation of South Africa’s wildlife through the expansion of trophy hunting, wildlife ranching, and domestic trade in rhino horn, ivory, and other products derived from wildlife, putting species conservation, the welfare of huge numbers of animals, and the country’s reputation as a responsible guardian of its wonderful wildlife at further risk.
Find out more about our efforts to end the commercial exploitation of wildlife: