Rangers from the Dinokeng game reserve in South Africa have been forced to put down three lions after a 70-year-old man was killed on Tuesday. Known for its efforts in preserving Africa’s Big 5 animals, Dinokeng is a popular destination due to its close proximity to Johannesburg. The reserve hosts many visitors who come to […]
Tag: lions
Captive lion breeding in South Africa: the case for a total ban
A new report by global NGO, World Animal Protection, provides a damning indictment on the captive predator breeding industry. Big cats are being bred for the use of their bones in traditional Chinese medicine. China is estimated to house about 8 000 tigers in captivity, while South Africa may have as many as 14 000 […]
Simba’s future depends on putting communities at the forefront of lion conservation (commentary)
This past weekend, Disney’s newly released version of The Lion King shattered box office records by earning $544 million in theaters around the world. But while Simba and Mufasa’s return to the big screen is good news for Disney and summer movie fans, in the quarter-century since the original animated version of The Lion King […]
Fourteen lions escape from Kruger park in South Africa
Authorities in South Africa have warned residents living close to the Kruger park after 14 lions escaped from the world-famous reserve. The state government of Limpopo said the pride had been seen near the town of Phalaborwa, close to the borders with Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It told members of the public to be “alert at […]
Rhino poacher killed by an elephant and then ‘devoured’ by lions
A rhino poacher is believed to have been attacked by an elephant and then eaten by a pride of lions during an incident in South Africa’s Kruger national park. Police brigadier Leonard Hlathi said police received information that a group of men had gone into the park on 1 April in order to hunt rhino, […]
POLL: Should the commercial trade in captive-bred tigers be banned?
The first thing that hit the inspectors was the smell. It was a sweltering midsummer day in Prague, and they had just opened an unplugged freezer filled with the rotting remains of tigers, lions and cougars. Pavla Rihova, the lead environmental inspector on the scene, said she had never seen anything like it. “I have […]
Rescued Circus Lions Take Their First Steps on Grass
It’s hard to imagine having to spend your entire life in a cage, only to be let out to be used as a performer in a circus. Sadly that was the case for five lions who never experienced anything else …until now. These lucky five lions, including Sasha, Kimba, Nena, Tarzan and Tanya, were recently […]
POLL: Should trophy hunting of lions be made illegal?
On June 7th, a trophy hunter shot a male lion in Umbabat Private Nature Reserve in South Africa, a part of the Greater Kruger National Park. Nothing surprising about this: around 500 lions, usually males, are killed every year by trophy hunters on the African continent. What’s made this different is the suspicion that the […]
