Tag: World Animal Day

Humane Society International/Africa and FOUR PAWS South Africa expose the captive lion breeding industry and ask tourists and residents to help #ProtectLions

Humane Society International / Global

Leozette Roode/HSI A captive-bred lion cub at a captive lion breeding facility in South Africa that offers “cub petting.”

JOHANNESBURG—Animal protection organisations Humane Society International/Africa and FOUR PAWS South Africa join forces this World Animal Day with a roaring call to protect lions in South Africa from tourist exploitation. The organisations are urging travellers, travel guides and tour operators to fight lion exploitation by refusing to participate in or promote human-lion interactions, such as cub bottle-feeding or petting, walking with lions or canned trophy hunting. HSI/Africa and FOUR PAWS urge tourists to support ethical sanctuaries and wildlife game drives instead as a natural and cruelty-free alternative to see lions roaming freely in their natural habitat. Ethical tourists can also sign a petition hsi.org/snugglescam and take the #lionlongevityoath.

South Africa has an estimated 8,000 – 11,000 captive-bred lions being held in over 260 lion farms across the country. These lions suffer from a vicious cycle of exploitation, from cradle to grave. Unsuspecting visitors are often fooled into supporting and funding what HSI/Africa and FOUR PAWS call the ‘‘Snuggle Scam” by paying for selfie photo opportunities, including petting and bottle-feeding with very young lion cubs, or walking experiences with captive older lions. These lions are eventually offered to be shot as trophies or slaughtered in masses to meet the demand of the international lion-bone trade.

Audrey Delsink, wildlife director of HSI/Africa, said, “Most people come to South Africa because they love lions and other wild animals. They would be shocked to learn that the cute lion cubs they pose with for selfies will one day be killed for profit as trophies or bogus medicines. Lack of awareness of the suffering behind every cub photo or pay-to-pet experience, is one of the biggest drivers of this industry that ultimately ends with lions being sold to canned hunts to be shot by trophy hunters and their bones destined for the lion bone trade in Asia. We are thrilled to work with FOUR PAWS South Africa to raise awareness of the ‘Snuggle Scam’, to urge people to stay away from these facilities, and instead to see these magnificent animals in the wild where they belong.”

In the wild, lion cubs remain with their mothers for 18 months, and adult females don’t produce another litter for at least 15 to 24 months after giving birth. By contrast, cubs born on breeding farms are taken from their mothers when they are just a few days or even hours old, forcing the mother into an exhausting and continuous breeding cycle. These captive breeding females are incarcerated in enclosures their entire lives, sometimes without adequate food, hygiene or the ability to express their natural behaviours. The cubs are hand-reared by volunteers from around the globe paying thousands of dollars who are misled into believing the cubs are orphans.

Fiona Miles, director of FOUR PAWS in South Africa, said, “It is time for all of us to realise the part we play in the welfare of animals – especially in the instance of lions. We are happy to join forces with HSI/Africa and encourage tourists not to feed the cruel industry of captive breeding exploitation. We need the public’s help to end the #BigCatScam by vowing never to participate in any activity that exploit lions for commercial purposes. The FOUR PAWS project LIONSROCK Big Cat Sanctuary provides a true ethical experience, where no interaction or breeding is allowed. We provide a lifelong home for previously captive-bred and rescued big cats from across the globe, with more than 100 of these iconic animals in our care.”

The South African government sanctions the captive lion breeding industry and has established an export quota for the international lion bone trade, despite growing global outrage. In August this year, the Pretoria High Court declared the South African government’s 2017 and 2018 lion bone export quotas as “unlawful and constitutionally invalid”. South Africa is a popular tourist destination that welcomed approximately 10.3 million foreign tourists and facilitated 17.2 million domestic tourism trips in 2017 (South Africa Tourism Report 2017). The top 10 tourist arrivals in South Africa are from the United Kingdom, United States of America, Germany, France, Netherlands, Australia, India, China, Brazil and Canada.

ENDS

Key facts:

  • Only about 20,000 lions remain in the wild in Africa.
  • Between 8,000 – 11,000 captive-bred lions are suffering in captivity in some 260 facilities across South Africa, marketed to tourists as lion interaction experiences. With fewer than 3,000 wild lions, South Africa has more lions languishing in captivity than in the wild.
  • Lions are a threatened species, listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. While the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora prohibits the trade of bones from wild lions, it does allow South Africa to export bones from captive ones.
  • It is impossible to differentiate body parts from wild vs. captive lions, so the legal export of captive lion bones facilitates the illegal export of wild lion bones.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Humane Society International/Africa: Leozette Roode, media and outreach manager,  0713601104, lroode@hsi.org

FOUR PAWS South Africa: MJ Lourens, head of communications, 082 922 9046, mj.lourens@four-paws.org

 

 

Humane Society International / United Kingdom

Guy Harrop/Alamy

LONDON–Around the world, billions of animals suffer for our food, fashion, beauty and entertainment. Many of them lead deprived, miserable lives confined in unnatural conditions or are subjected to deliberate cruelty. It doesn’t have to be that way. By changing our lifestyles to make more compassionate choices, we can all be animal defenders. This World Animal Day on 4th October, global animal charity Humane Society International shares its top tips for preventing animal suffering.

1. Eat less / no meat and dairy

With more than 80 billion land animals reared and slaughtered globally for food every year, not to mention the nearly 3 trillion fish pulled from the ocean and countless more raised on aquatic factory farms, industrial scale animal agriculture is not only one of the biggest animal welfare issues on our planet, it is also one of the leading contributors to climate change and deforestation. For example more than a third of all British egg-laying hens are still locked up in cages, confined to a space not much bigger than a sheet of A4 paper.

By switching to a more plant-based diet, we can spare animals from suffering on factory farms, reduce water and air pollution, as well as help combat climate change through reducing the carbon footprint of our food choices, and conserve precious planetary resources. Moving towards a more plant-based plate also benefits our health as diets high in fruit and vegetables reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity.

2. Choose cruelty-free cosmetics

Hundreds of thousands of animals still suffer and die each year around the world to test shampoo, mascara and other cosmetic products and their chemical ingredients. Terrified mice, rabbits, rats and guinea pigs have substances forced down their throats, dripped into their eyes or smeared onto their skin before they are killed. Cosmetic animal tests are archaic chemical-poisoning experiments devised more than half a century ago, such as rodent “acute toxicity” tests (1920s), rabbit eye and skin irritation tests (1940s) and guinea pig skin allergy tests (1950s). By contrast, modern non-animal methods are faster, more accurate at predicting human responses, and less expensive than the animal tests they replace.

HSI and our partners are leading the global effort to ban cosmetic animal testing in the world’s largest and most influential beauty markets. Our #BeCrueltyFree campaign has been instrumental in driving the European Union to become the world’s largest cruelty-free cosmetic market, and in securing subsequent bans in India, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Korea, Guatemala, Australia and in seven states in Brazil. Nearly 40 countries so far have banned cosmetics animal testing.

3. Say no to exploiting animals for entertainment

Around the world, many thousands of animals are exploited for entertainment, from the slow-death sadism of bullfights and cockfights to the neglect and mistreatment of captive marine and land-dwelling wildlife kept for display. The suffering of animals only continues for as long as the public pays to watch, so we can all help by not participating. Bullfights are not “fair fights,” but highly staged forms of government-subsidized animal cruelty that perpetuate the idea that the torment and killing of animals for amusement is acceptable, so please don’t attend these events when in Spain, France or elsewhere. Up to 8,000 lions suffer in captivity in South Africa, bred in appalling conditions for the lion cub petting industry in which tourists pay to bottle feed and take selfies with cubs. Ethical tourists have the power to shut down this industry by removing their custom. Wild animals in circuses, traveling shows and attractions often receive insufficient water, food and shelter, lack veterinary care, can be subjected to repetitive and stressful training, and can spend hours chained or confined. Camels, elephants, donkeys and horses used for tourist rides and safaris are often malnourished and physically abused, and suffer open wounds. Elephants are often stolen from the wild when young, illegally trafficked, broken after capture and punished with bullhooks. They are forced to carry excessive weight, suffer sores and diseases, and receive inadequate care. Whales and dolphins also suffer for entertainment – the natural habitat of orcas and other marine mammals simply cannot be replicated in captivity, and swimming with dolphins increases demand for captive animals, including from brutal “drive fisheries” such as the Taiji hunt in Japan.

4. Reject ‘delicacy’ meat

Across Asia, around 30 million dogs and 10 million cats are brutally killed for meat, most of them stolen pets or strays grabbed from the streets. In South Korea dogs are raised on farms and killed by electrocution; elsewhere in Asia they are usually bludgeoned, hanged or more rarely, boiled alive. In China, Vietnam and Indonesia, hundreds of dogs and cats can be crammed onto a single truck, driven for hours or days without water, food, protection from the extremes of cold and heat, and many suffering broken limbs, shock and disease. The World Health Organization warns that the trade, slaughter and consumption of dogs poses human health risks from trichinellosis, cholera and rabies. More than 70 million sharks are also killed annually for shark fin soup. The trade involves cutting off a shark’s fin, often while it is still alive, and dumping the animal back into the sea to die slowly. Don’t be tempted to eat shark fin soup, or dog or cat meat as “bucket list” items when travelling, as it merely perpetuates this brutal and often illegal trade.

5. Don’t wear fur

Millions of foxes, mink, raccoon dogs, rabbits and coyotes die every year for fashion. Confined in small, wire-mesh cages on factory farms or captured by painful metal traps in the wild, their fur is turned into frivolous keychain trinkets or trim on coats and hats. The average life span of an animal intensively farmed for fur is just eight months, after which mink will be gassed and foxes and raccoon dogs will be electrocuted. These terrible conditions can create psychological disorders, causing the animals to constantly pace and circle the boundaries of their cramped space, as well as fighting between cage mates and even cannibalism. Fur – and leather – are also incredibly polluting industries. The dressing and tanning processes, which stop the animal’s skin and pelt from decomposing as they would naturally do, use toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, cyanide, lead and chromium which can be released into waterways and devastate wildlife. These products are only natural whilst they are still on a living animal, after that the processes used to preserve and dress leather and fur are anything but earth-friendly. For the estimated 100 million animals killed for fur, life is typically a miserable existence. The future of fashion is compassion, with cruelty-free alternatives becoming more popular than ever with ethical consumers.

ENDS

Media contact: United Kingdom – Wendy Higgins whiggins@hsi.org

LIONSROCK Big Cat Sanctuary embraces global plant-based food trend and joins HSI’s Green Monday South Africa movement

Humane Society International / Africa

Daniel Born/FOUR PAWS Plant-based food on display at LIONSROCK in South Africa to celebrate joining the Green Monday movement.

JOHANNESBURG—FOUR PAWS South Africa and LIONSROCK Big Cat Sanctuary have teamed up with Humane Society International/Africa to join the global movement towards more plant-based, sustainable food by launching a meat-free Monday campaign alongside the opening of the sanctuary’s new restaurant.

The restaurant will offer 100% meat-free meals (of which 80% will be vegan) every Monday, and a selection of these plant-based dishes will be available on a daily basis. The new earth-friendly menu will launch on World Animal Day, 4 October 2019, to raise awareness of the destructive impact large-scale animal agriculture has on the planet and our wildlife, such as deforestation, drought, pollution and climate change.

The restaurant’s decision to introduce more plant-based options was inspired by HSI/Africa’s Green Monday SA meat-reduction initiative, encouraging South Africans to eat plant-based at least one day every week to improve their health, reduce their carbon footprint and make a positive difference to the lives of farm animals. HSI/Africa provided plant-based culinary training to LIONSROCK Big Cat Sanctuary’s chefs to help develop the new green menus.

Leozette Roode, media and outreach manager for HSI/Africa, said: “Many South Africans are aware of the negative impacts of a meat-based diet on their health and the planet, but most have not considered the implications of their food-choices on our wildlife. Animal agriculture is a leading cause of habit destruction and wildlife extinction, so reducing our meat consumption and eating more plant-based meals is something everyone can do every day to help the planet. Reducing or replacing meat allows us to farm more sustainably, reduce our carbon and water footprints, and help save animals –  including farm animals, aquatic species and wildlife. By joining HSI/Africa’s Green Monday SA campaign and serving 100% meat-free meals, FOUR PAWS and LIONSROCK Big Cat Sanctuary are spreading the vital message that we can stand up for animals every time we sit down to eat.”

LIONSROCK Big Cat Sanctuary in Bethlehem was established by the animal welfare organization FOUR PAWS South Africa in 2006. Fiona Miles, director of FOUR PAWS, said: “We are committed to joining the Green Monday SA movement and reducing meat consumption at LIONSROCK Big Cat Sanctuary – giving our guests the opportunity to help even more animals. We are extremely excited to add plant-based dishes to our menu that are not only tasty, but healthy and sustainable too.”

Animal agriculture is one of the leading contributors to climate change and deforestation which impacts the survival of wildlife globally. With more than 1 billion land animals reared and slaughtered in South Africa for the food industry every year, industrial scale animal agriculture impacts our wildlife in detrimental ways.

Four ways in which a meat-based diet kills wildlife:

  • Raising livestock and growing the crops used to feed farm animals require vast amounts of arable land. Often wildlife-rich areas (such as the Amazon rainforest, that homes over 3 million species of plants and animals) are destroyed to create space for monocrops like soy and maize. This deforestation leads to habitat loss and destruction of wildlife species.
  • Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are released during meat, egg and milk production. In South Africa, animal agriculture accounts for 60% of total agricultural carbon dioxide. These gases increase the chances for severe weather events like droughts and fires. Many wildlife species are suffering due to a lack of water in the extreme droughts South Africa has faced over the past couple of years.
  • Animal agriculture pollutes our water when animal manure, leftover animal feed and chemicals used to grow crops are flushed into our water systems. In some areas, this causes eutrophication in our water – an increased production of algae and phytoplankton that leads to algal blooms. These blooms produce deadly toxins that kill fish, marine mammals and seabirds and harm humans and wildlife.
  • To protect their livestock from being hunted by big cats and other carnivores, farmers often implementcruel lethal predator control methods using traps and poison. Many predators are also shot or trapped and killed when approaching livestock farms.

We can all stand up for animals every time we sit down to eat by reducing the number of animal products we eat.

For more information about Green Monday SA and the programs implemented in South Africa, visit greenmondayza.org.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Humane Society International/Africa: Leozette Roode, media and outreach manager, 0713601104, lroode@hsi.org

FOUR PAWS South Africa: MJ Lourens, head of communications, 082 922 9046, mj.lourens@four-paws.org

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