Lord Ashcroft Exclusively Reveals the Horrors of Lion Farming in South Africa

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC
Apr 28, 2019, 07:46 ET




LONDON, April 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Lord Ashcroft, the former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, has made a series of major revelations about the captive-bred lion industry in South Africa.

In the light of his exclusive disclosures, Lord Ashcroft called on the South African Government to halt the "horrific and abusive" activity of "lion farming" and urged the UK Government to bring in new import laws to discourage the practice.

Lord Ashcroft has written a series of newspaper articles on "lion farming", in which thousands of Africa's most iconic animals are bred to be killed for their bones or as hunting trophies. His disclosures were made in today's Mail on Sunday newspaper.

Lord Ashcroft, a businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster, commissioned a year-long undercover investigation – codenamed Operation Simba – involving former Special Forces and security operatives. The result was a disturbing insight into the full horrors and illegal practices linked to "lion farming".

The booming trade in lion skeletons is worth tens of millions of pounds a year and meets an insatiable desire in South East Asia and China for "traditional" medicines, including aphrodisiacs.

Lord Ashcroft's disclosures today include:

Wealthy clients are sent brochures with photographs of captive male lions via WhatsApp, so they can choose which one to kill. Prices range from £10,000 to £42,300 per lion and depend on the size and quality of the mane.
One British hunter was filmed shooting an exhausted lion with tranquiliser darts on an illegal so-called "green hunt". The lion had been chased by a 4x4 vehicle around a fenced hunting enclosure before the grinning City worker shot the terrified creature from just ten yards away.
The UK representative of a South African safari company advised an undercover investigator posing as a hunter how he could bypass a US ban on importing captive-bred lion trophies. He suggested first importing it to the UK - where such imports are not banned - before hiding the lion's skin inside the skin of a dead red deer and moving it on to America.
More than 50 lions were slaughtered for their bones at a so-called "eco-farm" in South Africa's Free State province in just two days.
Lions were kept in tiny cages and suffered appalling conditions in this farm's blood-stained slaughterhouse before their deaths. Horrific pictures showed lion skeletons and innards littering the floor, while discarded internal body parts were piled high in overflowing black plastic bags on a trailer outside.
In what is believed to be an obscene bid to maximise profits, breeders in South Africa are thought to be cross-breeding lions with tigers and creating hybrid offspring. The abusive process, which can lead to birth defects and the early death of cubs, boosts bone weight, earning the breeders more money.
British tourists are unwittingly helping to encourage the horrific trade by paying to play with cubs or to go walking with adolescent lions: animals that are invariably destined to be slaughtered or hunted.
According to well-informed sources, there are now an estimated 12,000 captive-bred lions in South Africa – far more than previously thought and approaching four times the number of wild lions in the country.

South Africa is the only country that permits large-scale, captive-lion farming and that has an annual quota for the legal export of lion bones. Many more lion bones are illegally smuggled to the Far East.

Lord Ashcroft has called on the South Africa Government to make captive-bred lion farming illegal as it has no conservation value. He said: "The captive-bred lion industry shames South Africa – indeed it shames us all.

"By allowing such a barbaric practice, the South African Government is harming the reputation of a country that treasures its position on the international stage in the aftermath of apartheid. Captive-bred lion farming in abusive and horrific."

Lord Ashcroft added: "I also call on the UK Government to follow the lead of other nations, notably the US, in banning the importation of captive lion trophies. We must do our bit to stamp out lion farming and show that we are not in any way complicit with it."

Lord Ashcroft has unveiled a new website on his wildlife work: www.LordAshcroftWildlife.com and has produced a YouTube film on his revelations about lion farming https://youtu.be/5lEHYMDGAzs.

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is a businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. For more information on his life and work, visit www.LordAshcroft.com. Follow him on Twitter @LordAshcroft.
SOURCE Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC


Related Links
http://www.lordashcroft.com/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...dramatic-rescue.html

Link has video and article.

I wonder if saturation bombing of large Asian population centers with Cialis would stem the demand for these crackpot "aphrodisiacs" that drive so much of this wretched activity.

Amazing!

Lord Ashcroft, the one half of the genius pair who have more or less destroyed the Tory party.

The other is that stupid Teflon Cameron!

They are all up in arms because humans are utilizing animals?

Someone should remind them about cattle, goats, sheep, and their close relatives, the pigs

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
I wonder if saturation bombing of large Asian population centers with Cialis would stem the demand for these crackpot "aphrodisiacs" that drive so much of this wretched activity.

Bill that’s funny lol!

The surest way we could use these "Asians" for the good of society is to convince them that eating terrorist testicles will give them a stiffy.

So there are some who say the only way the rhino will survive at all is through a similar farming scheme ... the harvest being horns which would then be sold to Asia. What does the snooty Englishman think about that?

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
So there are some who say the only way the rhino will survive at all is through a similar farming scheme ... the harvest being horns which would then be sold to Asia. What does the snooty Englishman think about that?

The snooty Englishman and everyone like him can bloody well stick it!

I have no respect for the idiots of this world telling us what to do!

Of course, this tweedy bugger fails to realize, or acknowledge, that banning a legal market of lion bones would result in a large black market for poached bones at even higher prices, and more pressure on the wild lion population. No doubt that a cleanup is necessary in the industry, but a ban could have draconian consequences.

Just who the fuck is Lord ashcroft in the scheme of things?

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Just who the fuck is Lord ashcroft in the scheme of things?

He is a shrewd politician making sure he gets the bunny hugger votes is all,nobody in SA will give a shit about his views but he will get the votes.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill73:

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Just who the fuck is Lord ashcroft in the scheme of things?

He is a shrewd politician making sure he gets the bunny hugger votes is all,nobody in SA will give a shit about his views but he will get the votes.

Actually, he is a total idiot, who got in bed with Cameron of the Tory Party in the UK.

These two have destroyed the Tory party, by insisting they needed a referendum on the EU - thinking they were so popular they will get the vote they wanted - that is to remain in.

They lost.

Cameron resigned, and now Ashcroft is trying to find something to glorify himself with.

Two stupid idiots if there ever was any.

quote:

By allowing such a barbaric practice, the South African Government is harming the reputation of a country that treasures its position on the international stage in the aftermath of apartheid. Captive-bred lion farming in abusive and horrific."

There you have it.

He is praising current South Africa!

I bet most people in South Africa the whites were ruling again!