Background

Since the Cooke Report revealed the horrors of canned lion hunting to the international world in 1997, the SanWild Wildlife Trust in conjunction with the Wildlife Action Group have been actively fighting to rid South Africa of this despicable and cruel practice. 

Where most animal welfare charities have limited their involvement and action against this industry to writing letters, canvassing media support and organizing petitions, SanWild has given refuge to the innocent victims of canned hunting directly – the lions themselves. 

For the first time ever, a non-profit animal welfare group committed themselves to take care of three prides of lions that had nowhere else to go. Previously, these lions had nobody that cared enough to take action to ensure their long-term welfare and allow them to live as natural a life as possible.

When Jespha’s pride arrived at SanWild, it was the first time this pride of lions could live without fear of being separated from each other, without fear of having their week-old cubs removed from them and without fear of a hunter’s bullet.

In addition to ensuring the prides’ daily welfare, feeding and cleaning and supplying veterinary care when necessary, the SanWild Wildlife Trust also continued to run local and international information campaigns to inform the world about the horrors of breeding lions for hunting purposes only. 

Without any consideration for the personal sacrifices needed, trustees and supporters of both the SanWild Wildlife Trust and the Wildlife Action Group worked for many hours lobbying media support, actively funding and initiating information gathering about the canned hunting industry.

In hindsight, it is easy to see that it all came down to the love that a single pride instilled in the hearts of us here at SanWild. The beauty of the black-maned Jespha, the love between a lioness and her cubs, the trust that all will be “okay” was clearly reflected in the pride members’ yellow eyes. The love we developed for the pride made our personal sacrifices worthwhile.

Being representative of the thousands of lions held captive on lion breeding farms (sometimes under the most appalling conditions), the small group of rescued lions at SanWild became animal welfare icons. They continue to serve as a constant reminder of how good people worked tirelessly and put a small dent in a horrific industry which has flourished in a country that has turned a blind eye to the unethical and cruel practices of canned hunting under the banner of so-called “sustainable utilization”. 

Since the first group of confiscated lions arrived at the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary, many internet browsers, donors and advocates of animal welfare have come to know the lions by the names given to them by supporters of this non-profit animal welfare trust.  

Jespha, Nikana, Ntombi and their two new-born cubs, Rongo and Aroha along with their sisters, Sasha, Radha and Nina represented a period of hope for the thousands of lions being held captive on many lion breeding farms in South Africa, waiting to be killed as hunting trophies. Sadly, the continued destruction of these beautiful creatures seems imminent as the South African government’s intentions have become crystal clear: “Canned lion breeding and hunting has become an acceptable part of the sustainable utilisation of our wildlife and is here to stay”.

Jespha’s pride also represented a time where it was hoped that animal welfare NGO’s could work hand in hand with official nature conservation departments to ensure the welfare of the innocent animals that became the silent victims of a greedy and heartless society supporting trophy hunters who would stop at nothing to feed their obsession to obtain a lion trophy. However the helping hand from the animal welfare community was simply ignored.

While love for these particular lions grew in the hearts of many international donors, it became evident that the formal conservation departments cared very little about the animals’ welfare.

While international donors kept the animals fed and paid for their care and veterinary treatment, the conservation departments on the other hand simply regarded the lions as commercial entities to be traded (and hunted if necessary). When they finalised the prosecution of the lions’ breeder, the conservation department wanted their “pound of flesh” In order to obtain this, in November 2005, Jespha’s Pride was placed on public tender to be sold to the highest bidder. As SanWild was deeply concerned for the animals’ welfare and safety, we felt it our duty to institute legal action to prevent the lions from being sold to the highest bidder. As a result of our proceedings, Jespha’s pride was removed from the tender documents.

Private investigations into the highly unethical, but lucrative trade in the captive breeding and canned hunting of large predators has proven beyond doubt that the conservation authorities have allowed canned hunting to continue unpunished in South Africa. 

While those in power continued to play their political games and the conservation departments squabbled around the issue of captive lion breeding and hunting like a group of confused vultures, yet another pitiful group of lions arrived at SanWild after the Asset Forfeiture Unit had confiscated them following a criminal investigation. The AFU punishes criminals that have profited from illegal activities by seizing their assets and turning such assets into money for government coffers.

Although the AFU’s main objective is to ensure that assets are sold off as effectively as possible and for the best price possible, they agreed to sell the group of lions, including a tame male to the SanWild Wildlife Trust in the best interest of the animals. Donor funding was raised to purchase the animals and to this day, the Royal Pride has been living in a large holding enclosure at the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary.

Please click here to meet all of the SanWild lions.

THE ROYAL PRIDE:

The Royal Pride (consisting of 2 males and 2 females) arrived at SanWild’s Cat’s Rescue Centre on the 3rd of September 2004 on very short notice. As a result of this they were saved from certain death from being hunted. The police had 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. 

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 of their own volition. He notified the conservation department and informed them 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 were 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 satisfied with the bids offered, he decided to have them hunted instead.

The Assets Forfeiture Unit (AFU) of the South African Police Services stepped in and confiscated the animals as it was evident that the individual concerned was using the opportunity to make a profit. This action by the Police Services saved the lions’ lives and ensured they could be brought to SanWild for safekeeping. 

In 2005 the court case was finalized and the animals were 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. The SanWild Wildlife Trust put in an offer to purchase the lions using donor funding obtained from a group of private individuals and the Bill Jordan Foundation for Wildlife. The offer was accepted by the AFU in July 2005. 

The sales agreement also made provision for yet another injured lioness to be moved to SanWild from a Rehabilitation facility in Hoedspruit. This lioness could not be moved at the same time as the other lions as she was injured. As she had bonded with other lions at the rehab facility we agreed that it would be in her best interest to remain at this facility.

Soon after the Royal Pride arrived at SanWild, it was discovered that one of the lionesses was pregnant. In order to prevent over-crowding, a decision was made to give all male lions vasectomies to prevent any further breeding. 

LUTALO’S PRIDE:

Lutalo and his sister Aisha arrived at SanWild when they were merely three months old. The two small cubs had been exploited by being displayed at various shopping centres in Johannesburg so that the general public could have their photographs taken with them. Sadly, in order to keep the cubs calm and easy manageable, drugs were used repeatedly to calm them and as a result, Lutalo developed an allergic reaction to the drugs. 

His owners’ rushed him to a local veterinarian that took pity on the cubs and phoned SanWild for assistance. 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 afterwards we received the response we were hoping for, someone who was willing to supply the funding which would enable SanWild to purchase the two cubs.

When Jespha’s pride arrived at SanWild, the three sisters were placed in an adjoining enclosure to Jespha and Aisha and soon the lions were socialising on the common fence. Tension filled the air as the date approached to allow the five lions to mingle with each other seeing as they had been held in separate facilities (with an adjoining fence). We were extremely relieved to see the almost fully-grown lions accepted each other and formed a new pride.

BOMBI AND MATSUMI:

During 2006 one of the most loved young lions at SanWild died as a result of an encounter with a black mamba. Everybody at SanWild was heartbroken over Matsumi’s unexpected death. 

Despite our sorrow, our focus had to remain with Matsumi’s companion, young Bombi. This beautiful young lion arrived at SanWild all the way from the Budapest Zoo in Hungary in order to socialise with Matsumi and be weaned off humans. Both lion cubs had been hand raised and were therefore heavily imprinted on humans. Our introduction program worked extremely well and within days the two cubs were inseparable. 

Matsumi’s death left Bombi devastated and for many days the young male mourned; his haunting calls breaking our hearts.

It was crucial that Bombi come to terms with his loss and the team at SanWild considered whether to introduce Bombi to the larger pride. One concern of ours was that the pride had formed very strong bonds which may preclude the young male from integrating. Fortunately all our fears were not realised and the pride accepted the young male. 

It has been months since Bombi joined the pride and he has assured a place for himself in this group, which in turn has helped him come to terms with the death of his companion Matsumi. 

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