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No exports of lion bones will be authorised in 2017 until the export quota for the trade in these specimens has been established and communicated to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Secretariat, says the Department of Environmental Affairs in a statement. A quota of 800 skeletons was proposed for export from South Africa in 2017.
Public concern about how the Department will determine the quota of lion bones permitted to be exported from South Africa, and how it will be managed were raised at a CITES stakeholder feedback session. Members of the public are invited to submit written comments to the department on or before February 2, for consideration by the CITES Management Authority and Scientific Authority before the final quota is communicated to CITES Secretariat in March 2017.
“The decision is misguided and shameful,” Audrey Delsink, Africa’s director of the Humaine Society International, is quoted as saying in Bulawayo 24. “Breeding captive lions is not only cruel and contrary to the global shift against captive wildlife, but is a potential threat to wild lions.”
Pippa Hankinson, from Blood Lions, also told Bulawayo 24 that the quota appeared to lack the necessary scientific basis, and was arrived at without consideration of proper welfare or conservation protocols.
The CITES Appendices state that: “Permits or certificates should only be granted if the relevant authorities are satisfied that certain conditions are met, above all that trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild.”
Sourse: tourismupdate.co.za