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“TAKE A PRIDE IN YOUR NAME”
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The SanWild Wildlife Trust, in conjunction with the Wildlife Action Group in South Africa, has since the Cooke Report revealed the horrors of canned lion hunting to the international world in 1997, 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, the S  anWild Wildlife Trust took their actions one step further to include 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. Lions who had nobody that cared enough to do what it would take to ensure their long-term welfare and would allow them to live as natural a life as possible and had nobody to speak for them.
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.
Looking back now at the day Jespha’s pride arrived it is easy to realize that at the end of the day it all came down to the love that a single pride instilled in individual peoples’ hearts. 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, kept it all together. This love made the individuals’ heartache, personal sacrifice and long tiring hours of work worthwhile.
Being representative of the thousands of lions held captive, (sometimes under the most appalling conditions) on lion breeding farms, the small group of rescued lions at SanWild became animal welfare icons. They will continue to be a reminder of how good people did nothing to prevent a horrific industry to grow rapidly in a country who it seemed, cared very little about the unethical and cruel practices they allowed to grow 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 animal welfare people 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, it seems that the intended message of hope has finally turned into a message of doom that will see the continued destruction of beautiful lions in the name of sustainable utilisation. The 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 whose absolute obsession to obtain a lion trophy would stop at nothing.
However, while love for these particular lions grew in the hearts of many international donors, it soon became evident to the SanWild Wildlife Trust 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 regarded the lions simply as commercial entities to be traded (and hunted if necessary) when their work to prosecute the lion breeder was completed, they wanted their “pound of flesh” no matter what. In November 2005, Jespha’s Pride was placed on public tender to be sold to the highest bidder with no regard for the animals’ welfare and safety.
The SanWild Wildlife Trust was forced to institute legal action to prevent the animals being sold off to the highest bidder and Jespha’s pride was removed off the tender documents.
Private investigations into the highly unethical, but lucrative trade in the captive breeding and canned hunting of large predators proved beyond doubt that the conservation authorities allowed canned hunting to establish itself in South Africa.
It was therefore perhaps idealistic for an animal welfare NGO, like the SanWild Wildlife Trust, to hope that by offering assistance to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism this would at least benefit the innocent victims of canned hunting.
While people 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 the wildlife sanctuary after the Asset Forfeiture Unit had confiscated them after a criminal investigation. The AFU punishes criminals that have made money from illegal activities by seizing their assets and turning such assets into money for government coffers.
Although their main objective is to ensure that assets are sold off as effectively as possible and obviously for the best price possible, the AFU 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 from them and to this day, the Royal Pride has been living in large holding enclosure at the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary. At times one can only ponder on the thought that when someone first uttered the destructive words “if they pay, they stay”, had any idea what suffering would come along with this phrase for the wild animals of the African continent – in particular the King of Beasts! We therefore would like to ask that you to contact friends, business corporations and animal welfare groups to get together and adopt the respective lion prides at SanWild to ensure that these unfortunate victims of canned hunting may live out the rest of their lives as pride members in safety.
PRIDE SPONSORSHIP NEEDED URGENTLY:
The costs involved in feeding the lions are as follows:
Jespha's pride $2500 per
month
If you would like to convert the currency, you can use the following website http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Corporate Sponsorship will entail the renaming of any one of the prides with your company name. You will also receive a stunning photograph and pride history that can be framed for your office or boardroom.
Photos of the lions can be seen under Success Stories link from the front page and from there under the Cats Rescue Centre. |
