I got this heads-up which speaks for itself.

D'you remember when Nat Geo wasn't a sensationalist rag?

Anyone care to comment?

All I can say is if they get their way and ban all lion hunting, I reckon the SA guys will either clean house - ie destroy what will then be to them a dangerous pest or raise them in pens and sell their parts to Asia ....

The NG author should do himself a favour and research how many Lions are killed in Botswana every year - all in the name of protecting Beef cattle. The ban on hunting in Botswana is doing nothing to help the lion population

quote:

Originally posted by Manyathelo:
The NG author should do himself a favour and research how many Lions are killed in Botswana every year - all in the name of protecting Beef cattle. The ban on hunting in Botswana is doing nothing to help the lion population

Exactly! The first year after closing I believe ~250 were exterminated.

Exterminated is the word!

I was a National Geographic subscriber back in the 1960s and into the 1970s for a short time. When they became a branch of the Disney corporation with cute and cuddly animal articles, I ended my association. I like Sporting Classics much better.

Very misleading, with 7,500 of the 10,000 coming out of South Africa. As expected the article is very slanted, but if you just read the first paragraph you would think that hunters have killed half the population.

Shouldn't be surprised, but it's a little disappointing how much the main stream media portrays this.

Total nonsense.

Where I hunted in 2011, a small southern corner of Dande North in Zimbabwe, we estimated at least 32 lions based on the tracks we found. The safari company's quota was two male lions plus one female that year, including a similar sized area in the north.

That was clearly a sustainable yield. The Safari company had negotiated a 10 year lease with the Tribal Council, who received all of the trophy fees. Both had an obvious self-interest in sustaining the population of lions.

Anyone who came and hunted lions also took a lot of other game, and the Tribal Council got those fees as well.