Award-winning documentary feature film BLOOD LIONS ® has been launched on YouTube. It is now freely available for worldwide public viewing to further increase awareness around the exploitation of captive-bred lions and other predators.
This is a global and collaborative campaign to create awareness around South Africa’s captive predator breeding, ‘canned’ hunting, live trade, and lion bone industries, as well as the various spin-off activities such as cub petting, walking with lions, and voluntourism.
Picture: Supplied
The Impact:
Produced by Regulus Vision, Blood Lions premiered in 2015 and was distributed worldwide by PBS International and IFD in South Africa. Through these organisations, the film has been viewed by millions around the world in more than 180 countries and has been subtitled into six different languages.
In a groundbreaking statement by Minister Creecy of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in May 2021, South Africa took a crucial and long-awaited step towards changing the status quo of the commercial captive lion breeding industry.
READ: New Conservation White Paper next step to end canned hunting
In her statement, she announced that ‘The [High-Level] panel recommends that South Africa does not captive breed lions, keep lions in captivity, or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially. I have requested the department action this accordingly and ensure that the necessary consultation for implementation is conducted.’
‘Immediately following the extremely positive (albeit outraged) global response to the release of Blood Lions, the Blood Lions Campaign was launched as a ‘call to action’ to continue to raise awareness around the horrors of the captive lion breeding industry, with the ultimate aim of bringing an end to it. This is indeed happening, with our government’s acknowledgement that the industry has no conservation value, has discredited South Africa’s conservation and tourism reputations, and that it should be phased out. We remain committed to our objectives, and to supporting this process of policy change and its implementation,’ states Blood Lions’ Director and the film’s Producer Pippa Hankinson.
Picture: GettyImages
About the film:
Blood Lions follows acclaimed environmental journalist and safari operator, Ian Michler, and American hunter, Rick Swazey, on their journey to uncover the realities of the multi-million dollar predator breeding and canned lion hunting industries in South Africa.
The film also exposes how thousands of unsuspecting tourists and volunteers visiting South Africa are mostly unaware that their money contributes to the fraudulent and exploitative use of these animals.
Cubs born in captivity in South Africa are often ripped away from their mothers within days of birth. The breeders claim they are orphaned and will one day be rewilded. However, this is untrue, as the practice is simply to bring the mothers back into oestrus (to become fertile) again more quickly, leading to intense breeding cycles where they can give birth to up to four times more litters of cubs than lionesses in the wild.
Many of the cubs are introduced into petting enclosures at 3-4 weeks of age, to provide paying tourists with selfie opportunities, while international paying volunteers hand-rear and bottle-feed these so-called ‘orphaned and abandoned’ cubs.
As the animals grow, they are often sold to facilities to be used for other interactive tourist activities, such as ‘walking with lions’, and many may also be abused in the advertising and film industry. Most of these activities are offered under the guise of conservation with emotional stories that the cubs were abandoned, orphaned, or that the mother didn’t have enough milk.
READ: Team of experts appointed to help captive lion breeders end the trade
The public launch of Blood Lions comes at a critical time for lions when a Ministerial Task Team appointed by Environment Minister Barbara Creecy is working towards identifying voluntary exit options and pathways for lion owners from the captive lion industry. This panel of experts will also be required to oversee the implementation and monitoring of this voluntary phase-out.
Watch the film here:
Contact: Dr. Stephanie Klarmann
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: bloodlions.org
- Twitter: @Blood_Lions
- Facebook: @BloodLionsOfficial
- Instagram: @bloodlions
ALSO READ: South Africa: The world’s largest exporter of big cats… and their parts
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