Come to the World Cup... and shoot a lion

By OLIVER HARVEY, Senior Feature Writer, in Vyberg, South Africa

Published: 10 Jun 2010

KITTED out in a wide-brimmed safari hat and camouflage gear, hunter Apie Keynecke brandishes a high-powered rifle.

His prey, and that of the tourists he escorts on shooting trips, are the majestic "kings of the jungle" - proud symbol of England's football team.

The dad-of-five looks like a great white hunter from yesteryear and charges visitors from overseas $25,000 - around £17,000 - to gun down lions in South Africa.


On top of that they pay as much as £4,800 extra in daily rates at his hunting lodge in South Africa.
But in an investigation that will shock many England fans, a clutch of game lodges in the World Cup host nation are offering "special" deals to entice footie fans to slaughter the country's big cats and other wild game.

Some of South Africa's hunted lions are bred like cattle in electrified wire pens, then released to be shot by rich European and US trophy hunters.


Currently they can be shot legally in some provinces just FOUR DAYS after being released from captivity.

When animals are stalked in a confined area it is known as "canned" hunting.

At Serapa Safaris in Vryburg, some 200 miles west of Johannesburg, Apie says his clients kill 20 lions a year.

They can use bows as well as rifles on his 46,000-acre spread of prime Kalahari savannah close to the Botswana border.

Tranquilised

Setting out the case for hunting, Apie shows us a snap of 22-year-old American Shayna Beevers crouching beside the impressive male lion she has just killed.

"It was her graduation present from her father," he explained. "She killed her lion with her first shot."

Apie admits his industry still has "rotten apples", revealing: "People dart lions with a tranquiliser out in the bush and within an hour come back to try to shoot that lion.

"The hunter himself doesn't know the lion has been tranquilised.

"The poor lion will be lying down and lift his head up and the professional hunter says to the client, "Shoot! Shoot!" We want to take those rotten apples out of the business."

Apie, 53, says of those in his industry using the World Cup to sell their lion hunts: "Hunting is very expensive and well planned - people aren't going to come to watch the football then suddenly decide to go hunting."

But 140 miles south of Johannesburg, in the Free State town of Bethlehem, Suze van der Wait, 32, and her husband Werner offer discount World Cup hunting packages.

For $22,000 - around £15,000 - punters get to bag a lion and lioness at Cheetau Safaris. The "special" package is promoted in crass advertising depicting a pretty blonde smiling next to a lion carcass.

The couple even allow experienced hunters to use bows and arrows to kill their animals, which are captive-bred.

Last night Werner, 31, said he saw "no problem" using the World Cup to market his lion hunts at his 6,200-acre lodge: "We're doing specials because we lost a lot of our usual clients who aren't coming because of the World Cup.

"We've sold a few World Cup packages - to Danish and Mexicans. They're using our rifles, they take their trophies to the taxidermist and off they go.

"We've probably lost around two million rand (£177,000) because of the football - overseas clients are worried about bringing in their rifles during the tournament. So we are trying to make up for our losses."

In a thick Afrikaans accent, he added: "We buy captive-bred lions and release them on our farm. The lions have never had any human contact.

"It's a hunt - we don't shoot from vehicles, we walk. It's full-on tracking. This year we've already hunted 42 lions.

"If we don't use the World Cup to market our hunts, someone else will."

Our investigation caused outrage among wildlife groups.

At the Sussex-based Born Free Foundation, Will Travers, 51, - son of the charity's founders Virginia McKenna and her late husband Bill Travers - said last night: "I urge all fans travelling to the World Cup to totally reject any temptation to waste their time, money and the lives of South Africa's magnificent wildlife."

South Africa has more than 120 lion breeders and 4,000 captive lions. In some years more than 1,000 lions are slaughtered in an industry worth £1million each year.

At the secluded Inyala Game Lodge near Ventersdorp, in North West Province, we were shown around a lion breeding farm that was open to tourists.

Lucrative

It is clearly a lucrative business - the family sell around 14 lions a year with three-year-olds worth up to £10,600.

The farm's alpha breeding male, Boutrous, is worth as much as £18,000.

Blonde Anske Wiersma, whose family own the business's 3,500-acre spread of lakes and scrubland, showed us around the breeding pens - but avoided taking us to a row of smaller wire enclosures nearby.

Later we returned to these enclosures and discovered 14 juvenile felines in a cramped pen smaller than a tennis court.

Anske, 23, insists she is personally against hunting.

When asked who buys Inyala's lions she revealed: "We sell to other breeders and lodges. We try not to sell to hunters but you get liars. You can't always be certain who you are selling to."

Asked if Boutrous would flee hunters if released, Anske added: "No, he would be easily shot, they're used to humans."

When a lion is sold to a hunting lodge it is tranquilised and transported. It takes four days for the tranquiliser to wear off - in which time it's illegal to hunt the lion."

Last year the South African courts ruled that lions bred in captivity must be free for at least two years before being hunted - but this was appealed by hunters and it could take years for the legal process to be resolved and the law changed.

Carel van Heerden, 45, chairman of the South African Predator Breeders' Association, said of the World Cup promotions: "They are simply trying to put together packages for people who are interested in both hunting and football.

"Captive lions are still wild animals. They have become used to humans and won't run away, which makes them more dangerous than those bred in the wild."

But local animal lovers believe the World Cup lion-shooting packages shame South Africa.

Chris Mercer, 64, director of South Africa's Campaign Against Canned Hunting, said last night: "I'm sure the World Cup organisers wouldn't want the tournament linked to such a distasteful, cruel occupation."