I subscribe to the magazine and found that to be a generally well-researched and balanced article. Virtually everyone who posts here on AR decries "canned" hunts for large predators, particularly African lions. But the proliferation of canned hunting has created a large population of semi-captive lions for which there is no good disposition.

Good article that presents a fair picture of the situation. Thanks for posting it.

I would rather hunt squirrels than captive-bred lions, but what do those who would ban the practice propose to do with the "leftover" lions?

It's a dilemma.

Let them loose in San Francisco ...

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
Good article that presents a fair picture of the situation. Thanks for posting it.

I would rather hunt squirrels than captive-bred lions, but what do those who would ban the practice propose to do with the "leftover" lions?

It's a dilemma.

If I could waive a magic wad. IUCN would certify these places and the lion killed allowing their parts to be traded in Middle East and Asia. That is what I would do. That will never happen.

quote:

I would rather hunt squirrels than captive-bred lions, but what do those who would ban the practice propose to do with the "leftover" lions?

It's a dilemma.

Australia has a long and all too often unfortunate experience with importing species to "fix" a particular problem, from rabbits, to water buffalo, cane toads, foxes, pigs, and even camels.
What's one more?

According to the authoritative internet source wikipedia they have 2.6M feral goats, 23.5m feral pigs, 5m feral donkeys, 300k camels controlled only by extremely expensive helicopter hunting and down from 1M, and are down to 150k water buffalo from a high of many times that.

While this is admittedly a smart ass post and I wouldn't dare to speak for people of another nation, given the massive loss of habitat occurring in Africa and the population boom projected to continue for the next several decades, the days of wild lions in Africa may sadly be numbered. If I was Australian I'd welcome them as it may be the only place capable of sustaining them in the wild in 50-100 years.