JESPHA'S PRIDE

A large black maned lion named Jespha, arrived at the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary on the 13th November 2003 after his pride had been confiscated by the Limpopo nature conservation authorities from their owner who brought them into Limpopo Province without the necessary permits.

Mr. Edwin Claasens operates a lion-breeding project in another province and wanted to set up a similar project in Limpopo Province.

Jespha’s pride also included two adult lionesses named Ntombi and Nikana and her three cubs. Unfortunately the three cubs had already been removed from their mother for some time and we were unable to reintroduce them safely back into the pride. 

In captive breeding projects that breed lions mainly to supply a very lucrative hunting trade, it is normal practise to remove newborn cubs from their mothers to ensure that the lioness comes into oestrus again so that she can be mated again and produce even more cubs. It works pretty much like a lion breeding factory.

Nikana had conceived again after her cubs had been removed and Rongo and Aroha were born shortly after the pride arrived at SanWild. They have grown into two beautiful young lions that remain with their pride.

The other three young cubs known as the “Three Sisters” was kept in a separate enclosure for quite some time and was later introduced to another pride of lions. 

In July 2005 the owner of the lions, Mr. Edwin Claasens was found guilty of the illegal importation and breeding of lions in Limpopo Province. He received a suspended sentence and his lions were all forfeited to the Limpopo Department of Environmental Affairs, Economic Development and Tourism. Despite the agreement reached between the SanWild Wildlife Trust and the conservation department in October 2003 that SanWild would be given the opportunity to ensure the lions long-term welfare by being party to the decision made as to the end destination for the pride, the department went back on their word.

In November 2005 they put the lions up for sale on a public tender along with some other lions, wild dogs and a Bengal tiger held at another facility.

The SanWild Wildlife Trust was tipped off by a member of the public and immediately instituted legal proceedings to prevent the tender going ahead. They were appalled that Jespha’s pride, which had been supported on SanWild donors’ funding since their arrival in November 2003, was to be sold off to hunters and breeders. After pressure from their legal team and wide media reports the Department of Environmental Affairs, Economic Development and Tourism agreed to remove “the Claasens lions” from the tender documents, but chose to go ahead with the tender process on the rest of the animals that included other confiscated lions and also a single Bengal tiger.

Enquiries in January 2006 showed that no tender had been submitted and the department received no formal offer on any of the other lions or the wild dogs that were on offer. The only formal tender submitted by a private zoo close to Johannesburg was received for the Bengal tiger. In 2006 the lions were once again put up for public tender, but this time the Department offered to “donate” them to a suitable applicant. Their fate remains uncertain, but while being looked after on behalf of the department one of the lionesses died as well as a cub that was being hand raised after being born at the other facility. 

We are being told that the wild dogs still remain at the De Wildt Endangered Species breeding centre in North West Province where they were taken when they were confiscated.

 

THE ROYAL PRIDE:

The Royal Pride (consisting of 2 males and 2 females) arrived at SanWild’s Cat’s Rescue Centre on very short notice. They were confiscated in the nick of time on 3 September 2004 before the two males along with a tame male called Donga could be hunted. The police had for some time been busy investigating the illegal capture of some white rhinos and giraffe from one of the Provincial Game Reserves close to Hoedspruit when they discovered that some lions had also been stolen by the same offender from two private game reserves, the Klaserie and Timbavati. 

The lions that were stolen were brought to a private game farm and the owner claimed that “some wild lions” had arrived on his farm on their own account. He notified the conservation department that some lions had entered his farm (it is in close proximity to the private game reserves adjoining the Kruger National Park) and that he was happy for them to stay. Some time later one of the lionesses had cubs and they grew up as wild lions on this private farm. However, these lions disappeared and only the young sub-adult lions remained along with one of the adult females. It is believed that the original lions stolen where hunted.

During June 2004 this group of lions were captured on the private game farm and placed in captivity. They were then offered for sale at the Hoedspruit live game auction. When the owner was not offered enough money for them, he decided to have them hunted instead.

As it was evident that this individual’s criminal activities was used to enrich himself, the Assets Forfeiture Unit of the South African Police Services could then step in and seize and confiscate the animals. Fortunately for the lions, this action by the Police Services saved their lives and they could be brought to SanWild for safekeeping. 

In 2005 the court case was finalized and the animals forfeited to the state. The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Limpopo informed the SanWild Wildlife Trust that the animals would be put up for sale. An offer to purchase them submitted by the Trust was accepted by the AFU (Asset Forfeiture Unit) in July 2005. Donor funding obtained from a group of private individuals and also the Bill Jordan Foundation for Wildlife was used for this purpose.

The sales agreement also made provision for yet another injured lioness to be moved to SanWild from the Moholoholo Rehabilitation in Hoedspruit. At the time when the other lions were confiscated and removed off the farm on which Moholoholo is situated, the injured lioness was still in rehab and could not be moved. Now she has bonded with other lions also held at the facility and we have agreed to allow her to remain at the facility. 

After the Royal Pride arrived at SanWild it was found that one of the lionesses was pregnant. Instead of aborting the cubs a decision was made to allow her to have her cubs.  Subsequently all the male lions have had vasectomies to prevent any further breeding. 

 

DONGA

Although Donga arrived at the same time as the Royal Pride, not too much is known about his background. We do know that he was hand raised and that he was to be hunted along with the two males of the Royal Pride. Fortunately he was confiscated and brought to SanWild before the hunt could take place. During a stay at SanWild, one of our volunteers, Natalie Langevin fell in love with Donga and her actions prompted the Trust and other individual donors, volunteers and supporters to launch a fundraising drive to save not only Donga, but also the entire Royal Pride. He too was purchased from the AFU.

 

LUTALO’S PRIDE:

Lutalo and his sister Aisha arrived at SanWild when they were only three months old. The two small cubs were displayed at various shopping centres in Johannesburg so that tourists and public at large could have their photographs taken with the two small cubs. Sadly in order to keep the cubs calm and easy manageable, drugs were used repeatedly to calm them and Lutalo suddenly developed an allergic reaction to the drugs. 

His owners’ rushed him to a local veterinarian that took pity of the cubs and phoned SanWild for help. He informed us that should any further drugs be used on the small male cub, he would most certainly die. This particular veterinarian did not support the commercialisation of lions held in the many captive breeding projects and expressed his wish to work with SanWild to try and ensure a better future for the two small cubs. An urgent email was sent to our list of dedicated donors and soon an email came back with the reply we were hoping for – “Purchase the cubs, I will put up the funding”. 

Obviously SanWild had to ensure that the cubs’ owners did not catch wind of our intent and the veterinarian acted as a go-between and negotiated so that he could purchase the cubs for himself. Obviously as soon as the deal had been concluded, the two small cubs were brought to SanWild. From the day they arrived they were raised in a hands off manner and this ensure that both animals remained pretty wild.

When Jespha’s pride arrived at SanWild the three sisters was put in an adjoining enclosure to Jespha and Aisha and soon the lions were socialising on the common fence that both their enclosures shared. However the day the gate was opened to allow the five lions to join up, everybody’s nerves were pretty shot and we were extremely relieved to see the almost fully-grown lions accept each other and form a new pride.

During 2006 one of the most loved young lions at SanWild, Matsumi encountered a black mamba and sadly died as a result of this encounter. Everybody at SanWild was heartbroken and for days we mourned her unexpected death. 

However our priorities had to be with Matsumi’s companion, young Bombi. This beautiful young lion arrived at SanWild all the way from the Budapest Zoo in Hungary to be joined up with Matsumi so that the two young cubs could learn to live without their close ties to humans. Both lion cubs had been hand raised and were heavily imprinted on humans. Our introduction program worked extremely well and within days the two cubs were inseparable and started sharing their new life in their own large 2-hectare enclosure. 

Matsumi’s death left Bombi devastated and for many days the young male mourned with the SanWild team.  His haunting calls for his young companion drove most of us to tears, but a decision had to be made to help young Bombi come to terms with his lost ASAP.

As Bombi and Matsumi had been sharing the three sisters old enclosure next to Jespha’s pride for many months we had to (in the best interest of the young male lion) consider joining him up with the larger pride.  However the pride had formed very strong bonds and we were very worried indeed that Lutalo or his females might not accept the young male. Fortunately all our fears proved unfounded and they accepted the young male without any problems. It has been a couple of months now that Bombi has joined up with the pride and he has assured a place for himself in this group. No problems have been noted between any of the pride members and we are confident that Bombi has fully come to terms with the death of dear Matsumi. 

In remembrance of the very much-loved young lioness, four sausage trees were planted at SanWild on the spot where Matsumi was cremated. Her spirit will continue to live in the SanWild sanctuary – wild and finally free!

 

THE FUTURE:

There have been times when the SanWild Wildlife Trust were faced with the difficult task of deciding the future of the lions held at SanWild. Putting the animals down after they had been rescued was not an option, but the financial implications placed a heavy burden on the Trust.

Initially efforts were made to place some of the lions at other suitable destinations, but sadly all attempts failed and we realised just what a dangerous place South Africa was for lions as a result of canned hunting. 

Most individuals interested in fostering the lions were simply interested in using the animals to generate money – either by hunting or breeding, and a final decision was made to stop all attempts to find other destinations for the lions. 

Our efforts in 2007 will be concentrated to rather find sufficient sponsorship to continue to care for the animals at our facility and to set free at least one of the prides in the reserve as soon as sufficient funding has been raised to upgrade perimeter fences to predator proof them ASAP. Unfortunately the reserve is simply not large enough to allow all the lions to go free.

If you love lions and would like to help us ensure their long-term welfare and safety here is how you can help us.

HOW YOU CAN HELP THE SANWILD LIONS.