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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:49 am
Time: 11:49 am
Results for lion bone trade
2 results foundAuthor: Williams, Vivienne Title: Bones of Contention: An Assessment of the South African Trade in African Lion Panthera leo Bones and other Body Parts Summary: Lions are listed in Appendix II of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which means international trade in live animals or body parts can only take place under a strictly controlled permit system. Prior to 2008, the only record of South Africa issuing CITES permits to export Lion skeletons was for three units to Denmark in 2001. However, Lion bone exports from South Africa have increased dramatically in recent years. From 2008 to 2011, the official number of skeletons legally exported with CITES permits totalled 1160 skeletons (about 10.8 tonnes on bones), 573 of them in 2011 alone, with 91% of them destined for Lao PDR. The North West, Free State and Eastern Cape, all home almost exclusively to captive-bred Lions, were the only provinces to issue export permits. Not all Lion bone trade in South Africa has been legal, however. In 2009, a Vietnamese national was arrested and later deported for being in possession of Lion parts without permits, while in June 2011 two Thai men were arrested after being found with 59 Lions bones. "The trophy hunting industry..is the main source of carcasses once the trophy hunter has taken the skin and skull," say the report's authors. Numbers of Lions at breeding facilities in South Africa almost doubled from 2005 to 2013 when around 6188 animals, some 68% of the national total, were in captivity, many destined for the lucrative trophy hunting industry, which generates around USD10.9 million per year. However, the report finds: "there is no economic incentive to farm Lions solely for their bones, especially given the costs involved in raising Lions and the current prices paid for skeletons." Nevertheless, the value of bones generated as a secondary by-product of the trophy hunting industry has allegedly motivated farmers to dig up previously discarded carcasses originating from trophy hunts and captive mortalities and whereas female Lions formerly had little or no trophy hunting value to breeders, the emergence of a market for bones has generated a previously overlooked value. The authors recommend Lion breeding facilities are closely monitored to restrict opportunities for abuse of the system for financial gain. The authors speculate that bone exports to Asia may be connected to Lion bone being used as a substitute for Tiger bone in tonics. In 2005, TRAFFIC found evidence that African Lion bones were an ingredient in "tiger bone strengthening" wine produced in Guilin, China, and distributed in Tiger-shaped bottles, but with Lion bones as an approved ingredient. The authors also note the difficulty of distinguishing Lion from Tiger bones. With more than 280 Tigers captive in South Africa, they recommend DNA spot checks of shipments to verify their origin and also in the report provide some guidance, based on skeletal characteristics, on how to distinguish the two species. The reports also notes the large discrepancies in information on Lions in South Africa: between 2004 and 2010, 2950 Lions were registered as having been hunted there - yet CITES export permits indicate 4088 trophies for the same period, a difference of more than 1100 trophies. Several reasons are proposed to explain the discrepancies, including specimens incorrectly described as trophies and animals not being hunted in the same year as the permits are issued. The authors recommend a number of improvements to recording systems, including development of an integrated national system for issuing permits that can be crosschecked by all enforcement and Customs officials. They also make a pragmatic blanket recommendation that measures currently in place to impede opportunities for illegal activities are strengthened across the entire supply chain from Lion breeding to skeleton exports. Details: Cambridge, UK: TRAFFIC, 2015. 128p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 17, 2015 at: http://www.traffic.org/home/2015/7/16/new-study-throws-light-on-south-africas-lion-bone-trade.html Year: 2015 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.traffic.org/home/2015/7/16/new-study-throws-light-on-south-africas-lion-bone-trade.html Shelf Number: 136097 Keywords: Animal PoachingLion Bone TradeLionsWildlife CrimeWildlife Trade |
Author: Williams, Vivienne Title: South African Lion Bone Trade: A Collaborative Lion Bone Research Project Summary: The African lion is the only big cat listed on CITES Appendix II, and the only one for which international commercial trade is legal under CITES (Williams et al. 2017a). Debates on the contentious trade in lion bones and body parts were amplified at the 2016 CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP17) when consensus on a proposal by Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Togo to transfer all African populations of Panthera leo (lion) from Appendix II to Appendix I of CITES could not be reached, and many southern African countries in particular opposed the proposal. Instead, through negotiations within a working group, a compromise to keep P. leo on Appendix II with a bone trade quota for South Africa, was agreed as follows: A zero annual export quota is established for specimens of bones, bone pieces, bone products, claws, skeletons, skulls and teeth removed from the wild and traded for commercial purposes. Annual export quotas for trade in bones, bone pieces, bone products, claws, skeletons, skulls and teeth for commercial purposes, derived from captive breeding operations in South Africa, will be established and communicated annually to the CITES Secretariat. CoP17 underscored a need for further information on lion trade and the consequences for lions across the continent. And, in accordance with the annotation, South Africa was required to establish an export quota for lion bones, and the Scientific Authority was mandated to advise the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) on the size of this quota on an annual basis. Following consultation with various relevant government agencies (national and provincial) and other stakeholders (including a public meeting on 18 January 2017), the 2017 export quota was set at 800 skeletons (with or without the skull) in July 2017. No specific export quotas were set for teeth, claws or individual bones; these items are included in the quota as parts of a skeleton. In order to provide sound scientific decision support to the DEA, an interdisciplinary and collaborative research project led by two independent experts, Dr VL Williams (VLW) and Mr M 't SasRolfes (M'TSR), was commenced in March 2017 and will end in March 2020. This interim report is the first in the series of report backs on the research to SANBI. The core aims of the collaborative research project, as given in the collaboration memorandum, are: 1. To increase understanding of the captive breeding industry and the trade in lions (especially bones, but also other products and live lions) in South Africa; 2. To investigate how the trade in captive-produced lion skeletons and other body parts under a quota system affects wild lion populations; 3. To strengthen the evidence base for the annual review of the lion bone export quota in order to ensure it is sustainable and not detrimental to wild populations. The lion bone trade also interacts with the recreational hunting industry and may affect other felid species internationally; accordingly, the project also aims: 4. To gain a better understanding of the consequences of the US ban on imports of captive-origin trophies that took effect from the start of 2016; 5. To gain a better understanding of potential linkages between markets for lion body parts and those of other large felids in and beyond Africa. In respect of the aims, various sub-projects and/or data analysis activities were initiated in 2017, namely: 1. The National Captive Lion Survey: an online questionnaire survey distributed to South African facilities that breed, keep, hunt and trade in lions (live and/or products) (commenced August 2017; ongoing, but to be closed in 2018 on a date to be determined; the focus of this report) (various collaborators); 2. Analysis of data supplied by multiple information sources: analysis of available data (see Table 1) to inform the evidence base; 3. Muthi market monitoring: a project tracking the presence of lion parts (mainly skins) in traditional medicine outlets/markets (commenced January 2017; ongoing) (VLW only; not SANBI funded). Details: South African National Biodiversity Institute, 2017. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Interim Report 1: Accessed July 30, 2018 at: https://conservationaction.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2017_Interim-Report-1.pdf Year: 2017 Country: South Africa URL: https://conservationaction.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2017_Interim-Report-1.pdf Shelf Number: 150968 Keywords: Animal PoachingLion Bone TradeLionsWildlife CrimeWildlife Trade |