Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment Minister, Barbara Creecy, has appointed a Ministerial Task Team to assist captive lion breeders with voluntary strategies to exit their field.
Picture: Unsplash
The breeding of captive lions was officially banned in May 2021, and Creecy plans to enforce that law. The newly appointed team was announced in the Government Gazette 47666 on 7 December 2022.
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The team is made up of eight members; Chairperson Kamalasen Chetty, Obied Katumba, Dr Louise de Waal, Carla van Vyfer, Priscilla Stiglingh, Dr Peter Caldwell, Adv Justice Mnisi, and Dr Kelly Marnewick.
The government website explains that ‘the appointment of this advisory panel… follows a high-level panel which made a number of recommendations’ to Creecy ‘on matters relating to the management, breeding, hunting, trade, and handling of elephant, leopard, and rhinoceros.’
The team’s end date is 30 June 2023, but the minister may request that the team ‘continue with key aspects of the work to facilitate implementation of the exit strategy and other outcomes related to its work.’
They will hold meetings with stakeholders in the captive lion industry, the relevant issuing authorities, and vulnerable workers. They will also audit the ‘existing captive and captive-bred facilities to confirm the numbers of lions, their age and sex, number of stockpiles of lion parts and derivatives, the practices used within that facility, the number, level of employment and skills of workers and potential other land use options within the biodiversity economy.’
To see and learn more about the expectations of the task team, have a look at the National Environmental Management Act 1998 (NEMA) notice.
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