NEW 30 March 07
DVD is original print of film
*They need your help *
Leopard shot for
fun
Please sign this petition
The Leopard
measured 7 foot 1 inch, 160lbs with a skull measurement of 16 1/8
and is now lost forever because this coward put a bullet into it
for fun, the landowner allowed this to happen and a safari operator
makes money out of this destruction.
From: "Nikki
Botha"
Date: March 5, 2007
Subject: They need your help
Hello Everyone,
The new year is well and truly on its way and the cruelty
continues.
Minister van Schalkwyk, himself a hunter, believes that the sort of
behaviour you see in this picture is acceptable.
For those of us who feel that our heritage is being destroyed, by a
few South Africans and many overseas hunters then it is time to do
something about this.
I do not mean one letter.
I mean that it is time to really get involved.
It is time to think of every influential person, celebrity, priest,
government official who you know and to approach them with requests
for help to stop the killing of our wildlife.
It is time to get the church involved, approach your local
minister, ask them if they think that this is how God’s creatures
should be treated.
It is time to speak to your travel agents and ask them to approach
government through their tourism bodies to identify reserves and
resorts such as Pilanesburg so that ethical tourists may choose to
avoid such facilities.
It is time to expose every hunting lodge and hunting safari
operator in South Africa.
It is time to approach the airlines and petition them to ban
carrying hunting rifles. SABC program Rights and Recourse
interviewed hunters who glamorise the killing.
Write to them and tell them their one sided portrayal of an
industry that promotes cruelty is unacceptable.
Rights and Recourse email: randr@redpepper.co.za
Trophy hunting is deemed a ‘sport’.
Killing exquisite animals is fun.
Taking a life that these hunters have no right to take.
They are destroying beauty and a gene pool that our wildlife cannot
afford to lose.
How dare these hunters, safari hunting operators and land owners
think that our wildlife is theirs to destroy. Our wildlife heritage
belongs to us all and is something we borrow from our
children.
If we are not prepared to get involved and get active then we will
lose it all.
Please forward this as far and wide as you can, lets make each
letter count.
Luv B
The Leopard
measured 7 foot 1 inch, 160lbs with a skull measurement of 16 1/8
and is now lost forever because this coward put a bullet into it
for fun, the landowner allowed this to happen and a safari operator
makes money out of this destruction.
Press
release March 8,
2007:
P R E S S R E L E A S E....P R E S S R E L E A S E...P
R E S S R E L E A S E....P R E S S R E L E A S
E...
ETHICAL HUNTING - SOUTH AFRICAN STYLE.
Let’s
examine a few sections of the new canned hunting regulations, which
come into effect on 1st
June, to see how they will improve hunting practices in this
Paradise for hunters, South Africa.
The quoted regulations are in Italics.
The Minister says he has ‘banned canned hunting.’
His boast has been uncritically reported by some
journalists. Read the sections below and judge for
yourself.
“gin
trap” means a leg hold or foothold trap made up of two tightly
closing jaws, a spring of sorts, and a trigger in the middle,
without an off-set jaw or padded jaw that reduces chances of injury
to the animal;
24.
(1)
The following are prohibited activities involving a listed large
predator, Ceratotherium simum (White rhinoceros) or Diceros
bicornis (Black rhinoceros):
(b)
the hunting of a listed large predator, Ceratotherium simum (White
rhinoceros) or Diceros bicornis (Black rhinoceros) in a controlled
environment;
(e)
the hunting of a listed large predator, Ceratotherium simum (White
rhinoceros) or Diceros bicornis (Black rhinoceros) by making use of
a gin trap;
OK
so what does all this legalese mean in plain English?
It means that, from 1st
June, you will no longer be permitted to restrain a rhino or large
predator by means of a gin trap. You can continue to use a
gin trap on all other species, such as elephant, buffalo and hippo,
as well as exotic species such as tigers.
The use of gin traps, banned in over ninety countries because of
the extreme, indiscriminate cruelty involved, is a favoured
instrument of South African conservationists, and so its use is not
being banned, merely ‘regulated.’
But who could conceivably want to use a gin trap on a lion or
rhino, you may ask?
Silly question, how else can you hold the animal in one place so
that the bow hunters and their video photographers can get close
enough?
Use a pack of dogs? Yes, but see below, this is now also
‘regulated.’
As can be seen above, you may no longer from 1st
June, shoot lions in their cages, or rhinos in their
boma.
If you cannot live without killing lions and rhinos, you can turn
them out into a fenced camp which has a few springbok grazing in
it,
let them grow out into huntable size for two years, and then kill
them.
The fenced camp must fall within the definition of ‘extensive
wildlife system.’
Here it is:
“extensive wildlife system” means a system that
is large enough, and suitable for the management of
self-sustaining wildlife populations in a natural environment which
requires
minimal human intervention…”
As you see there is no minimum size for the hunting camp. 50,
500 or 5000 hectares, it does not specify.
And you can supplement the feeding of the captive-but-free-roaming
animals, but only minimally, whatever that means. And guess
who has the discretion of deciding if your fenced camp is adequate
to be an ‘extensive wildlife system’?
Yes, how did you guess - the very same conservation official who is
in many cases himself a professional hunter, favours the use of gin
traps, particularly on so-called problem animals, and has been
giving permits all these years to hunters to allow them to shoot
arrows into elephants, rhino and lions.
Oh, and crocodiles too.
(2)
Subregulation (1) does not apply to a listed large predator,
Ceratotherium simum (White rhinoceros) or Diceros bicornis (Black
rhinoceros) bred or kept in captivity which
–
(a)
has been rehabilitated in an extensive wildlife system;
and
(b)
has been fending for itself in an extensive wildlife
system
for at least twenty four months.
FAIR
CHASE
(b)
listed threatened or protected species
may not be hunted by luring it,
by means of –
(i)
bait, except in the case of -
(aa)
lions, leopards and hyena, where dead bait may be
used;
Hey, what happened to fair chase? The new regulations allow
you to drag a carcase around the hunting camp, and then hide and
wait at the carcase for lions, leopards and hyena to show
up.
If this is not canned hunting, then what is?
Oh yes, and you can still kill leopards and hyena for fun by first
blinding them with a dazzling light:
(7)
Subregulation (1)(c) does not prevent the use of flood or
spotlights for the purpose of –
(c)
hunting of leopards and hyenas.
USING
DOG PACKS FOR
HUNTING
One
of the more interesting methods of restraining target animals in
South Africa so that they cannot run away when the hunters with
their entourage approach is to set a pack of dogs onto the hapless
victim. This method is currently used even on tame,
captive-bred animals. As can be seen from the sub-section
above, it is perfectly legal under the new regulations to set a
pack of dogs on to any helpless animal, from an elephant down, only
now the animal must first be wounded, however
slightly:
(3)
Subregulation (1)(a)(iv) does not prevent the use of dogs for the
purpose of –
(a)
tracking a wounded animal;
How’s
that for ‘regulation?’ Again, guess what sort of conservation
officials will be monitoring and supervising these new
regulations? Right again - the same sort of conservationists
who have been giving Mr Strydom his permits for years, allowing him
to set his dogs onto hand-reared animals.
See e.g.
www.africancats-hounds.co.za
PITY THE POOR BUFFALO
(8)
An issuing authority may not issue a permit to hunt a listed large
predator, Ceratotherium simum (white rhinoceros), Crocodylus
niloticus (Nile crocodile), Diceros bicornis (black rhinoceros) or
Loxodonta africana (African elephant) by means of or by the use of
a bow and arrow.
What is missing here?
Well, just about every other living creature, starting with
buffalo, who will continue to be used for target practice by bow
hunters and other animal abusers.
Buffalo, hippopotamus, Eland, Kudu, wildebeest, gemsbok; all kept
in fenced camps, awaiting execution.
The arrows will thud into them day in and day out, while South
Africans sing the praises of the rainbow nation.
To restrain the buffalo so that the bow hunters can get close
enough to draw the bowstring, will the animals be held by gin traps
or by a pack of dogs?
After all, the ‘regulation’ of gin traps only applies to rhino and
large predators.
This is a very brief and random expose of some of the horrors for
South African wildlife in this new legislation.
CHRIS
MERCER
CAMPAIGN
AGAINST CANNED HUNTING
www.cannedlion.co.za
Email received 8 March 07:
As published in the Cape
Times Friday, March 2, 2007
http://www.capetimes.co.za/
Cub
at mercy of canned hunting industry
A young lioness, saved from inadequate facilities in a Romanian
zoo, falls victim to gross negligence by an animal welfare
organisation upon relocation to a lion breeding facility
in South
Africa’s Free StateProvince.
Fransje
van Riel
reports.
In July 2005 Bogdan
Popescu, general manager of the Romanian broadcasting station Radio
Total and his girlfriend Gabriela Savu took pity on a three-week
old lion cub that they found in substandard conditions in
the Bucharest zoo.
The couple, in an effort to help the young lion cub, decided to buy
her with the intention to relocate her to the wilds
of Africa.
Lacking
the expertise and ill equipped to deal with the intricacies and
complexities of the task at hand, thePopescus nevertheless managed
to raise little Frida in their city apartment and soon after
contacted a reputable animal welfare organisation to ascertain the
feasibility of a release in Africa.
The
Popescu’s entered into discussions with Ioana
Tomescu, Executive Director of Vier Pfoten Romania, (Four
Paws) which receives an average of between ˆ50 -70 million per
annum in donor funding from European animal lovers and has its head
office in Vienna, Austria.
Tomescu
re-assured the couple that Vier Pfoten had had previous experience
in sending lions to South
Africa since 2003 and that they would therefore be in an excellent
position to find a suitable home for Frida.
When
Vier Pfoten chose the Camorhi Game Lodge
in South
Africa, a 1181 ha game reserve in the Free State,
the Popescus were overjoyed. Frida’s future in Africa now
seemed imminent and secure.
They
had, however, no way of knowing Camorhi was in fact a lion breeding
facility and that its owner, Marius Prinsloo, was well known in
conservation circles for his associations with the notorious South
African canned hunting industry.
In
the meantime, a spokesperson of the South African animal activist
group WAG
(Wildlife Action Group) had also contacted Tomescu. WAG was
concerned that a European based animal organisation such as Vier
Pfoten might not be aware of the extent of canned lion hunting and
how many eco-friendly sounding reserves were in fact spokes in the
big wheel of canned lion hunting.
With
some 50 lion breeding outlets and 3-4000 individual animals caught
up in the canned hunting industry, WAG
had reason to worry.
In
a recent American newspaper, South
Africa was ruthlessly described as being a ‘hunting wonderland’.
Indeed, with an ongoing production line of large predators farmed
behind steel bars, client hunters can pick and choose what, where
and how to hunt any wild animal they choose. With hunting taking
place in fenced-off reserves, bagging a trophy in South Africa is
as convenient as ordering a burger in a restaurant. And it is big
business.
Tomescu,
however, ignored any further correspondence
with WAG
and proceeded with arrangements despite having been cautioned about
the prevalence of canned lion hunting.
By
late November 2005, the Born Free Foundation (BFF) in the UK
alerted Vier Pfoten to some incriminating evidence they had in
their possession proving that Camorhi was not a suitable
destination for a young lion cub. They strongly advised to abort
Frida’s relocation and send her to the DrakensteinLionPark
in the Western Cape instead.
The DrakensteinLionPark
was established by Paul Hart in 1998 to provide sanctuary and
lifetime care for captive lions deemed surplus to demand in zoos or
destined for hunting farms. BFF contacted Hart, who immediately
offered Frida a home for the remainder of her natural life and in
turn contacted Vier Pfoten and Radio Total
in Bucharest.
The
Popescu’s had been left completely in the dark as to the
controversy surrounding Camorhi and were
only informed
the day before her departure that there ‘‘might
be a small problem with Frida’s final
destination’’.
The
couple quickly did some research on the Internet and were horrified
to discover that Frida was about to be relocated to a commercial
breeding facility. They immediately contacted Vier Pfoten, urging
them to initiate new arrangements with Hart to move Frida to
theDrakensteinLionPark.
Tomescu,
however, told them that it was extremely difficult to abort the
entire operation at that stage and that it would be easier to move
her from one province to another in South Africa instead of not
letting her go and try and change both theCITES and the Veterinary
Health Certificate for export to South
Africa.
Camorhi,
she guaranteed, was only a temporary solution and Frida would be
moved as soon as the two-week quarantine period was
over.
Despite
lingering concerns, the Popescu’s allowed Frida to fly on December
the 5th
having been re-assured by Vier Pfoten that their lion cub would be
moved to Drakenstein as soon as possible.
In
March Tomescu flew to South
Africa to visit Camorhi. She found the walls of the lodge plastered
with various animal trophies, including the heads and skins of
lions.Despite this rather alarming clue as to Camorhi’s true
nature, she sent the Popescu’s a message in Bucharest that
Camorhi was perfectly suitable for Frida.
Tomescu
went on to visit the game parkwhere Vier Pfoten had sent four lions
several years earlier, only to find that one lion had just died a
violent death and the other three lionesses with litters of newborn
cubs.She did not question why these rescued lions had been allowed
to breed in captivity or what would happen to the
cubs.
Lastly
Tomescu stopped off at the DrakensteinLionPark,
where she proceeded to offer Hart a number of other large
predators, including a ‘’guaranteed five lion cubs per
year’’.
While
the Popescu’s, the Born Free Foundation and the Drakenstein Lion
Park were led to believe that Vier Pfoten was indeed trying to
relocate Frida, Vier Pfoten had, two months earlier in January,
entered into negotiations to buy Camorhi Game Lodge with owner
Marius Prinsloo, a self-confessed lion breeder who supplies
his captive animals to the canned hunting
industry.
The
initial asking price for the reserve and lodge was ZAR 4.7 million
and included 40 tawny and 8 white lions that had been bred at the
farm for canned hunting purposes.
The
deal, however, dragged its heels and as it did, Frida was having
difficulties adapting to her new home. In June, a female visitor
was told by a ranger that Frida had been ‘saved’ from a terrible
former life where she had been abused and drugged for photographic
exploitation with tourists in a Romanian nightclub. The story,
although completely false, made sense to the woman as Frida, unlike
her male companion, was cowering in the corner of her enclosure and
appeared terrified of humans.
When
asked what the fate was of these two young lions, the ranger
explained that Camorhi was in the process of being sold and that
Vier Pfoten was to become involved in the welfare of the two lions.
She did not disclose what would happen to the reserve’s other big
cats.
Eventually,
on 1
November 2006, ownership of Camorhi was transferred to Amir Khalil,
a director of Vier Pfoten. The deal was concluded with financial
assistance from Vier Pfoten, for a sum that far exceeded the
initial asking price.
Prinsloo
pocketed several millions more
than what he had bargained for, money more than likely originating
from donations made to Vier Pfoten by unsuspecting animal lovers.
Prinsloo also took along 16 tawnyand 8 whitelions and has
since established Ingulule, a game farm situated in the
Kalahari,which openly advertises canned lion hunts on the
Internet.
Helmut
Dungler,
CEO of Vier Pfoten Austria, publicly statedon numerous
occasions that ‘’the new owner of Lionsrock (the new name for
Camorhi) will build up high standards of animal welfare and safety
systems’’ and that Lionsrock is its own company, co-financed and
supported with funds from Vier Pfoten”.
The
controversy over the ownership of Frida remains a contentious
issue. The Popescu’s claim that they never gave Frida to Vier
Pfoten but Dungler, in an email commented that ‘’the ownership of
that lioness belongs to the owner of Camorhi, now
Lionsrock”.
When
asked about an incident in October where Frida savagely mauled the
arm of a young unmarried mother visiting the farm, he stated, “for
all things that happened before 1st November the old owner of
Camorhi is responsible”.
·The
Frida saga raises some serious questions. Why would an animal
welfare organisation spend millions to buy a game farm
in Africa >from a lion breeder with connections to the
canned hunting industry and thereby contribute to the enrichment of
such a person?
·Why
did Vier Pfoten not establish a lion sanctuary in Europe
instead, a solution that would have been far easier as well as a
more cost effective way of using donor funding?
·Why
would Vier Pfoten negate responsibility for Frida’s attack if they
had employed someone to look after Frida full time? What happened
for a loving and secure lion cub to turn into a frightened lioness
and savagely attack an innocent bystander?
·And
why, if Frida’s legal owners, Bogdan Popescu and Gabriela Savu
of Radio Total maintain that Frida should be moved to
the DrakensteinLionPark, has this still not been
arranged?
Meanwhile,
the Popescu’s are waiting for a miracle. Said Savu,
“I
have never changed my wish for Frida to spend the rest of her life
at the DrakensteinLionPark.”
*FootNote*
In
what will resemble a “David vs. Goliath”
struggle, Gabi
Savu will soon launch legal action in South Africa to ensure
that Frida is moved to a place of safety. Any organisations or
individuals who would like to contribute to the “Frida Legal Fund”
are urged to contact Gabi - gbsavu@yahoo.com
On March 8, 2007, Action Against Poisoning received:
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE MASK
Johannesburg 6 March 2007. It has recently come to light that a
foreign company involved in animal welfare has in fact been
involved in commercial dealings with a known canned lion
breeder.
Austrian company Vier Pfoten (Four Paws) International (VPI) market
themselves as an organisation that “focuses on helping animals –
abused due to economic, scientific or other reasons – to their
rights. Our vision is a world without animal suffering. We
view ourselves as the advocate and champion of those who have no
voice of their own, namely animals.”
The Frida Story:
In 2005, when Gabi Savu of Radio Total needed to find a suitable
home for her adopted lion cub, Frida, she was referred to VPI. VPI
gladly offered to help, under the condition that Radio Total pay
all transport and vet
fees for the relocation of the cub to Camorhi Game Lodge in
Bethlehem,
South Africa. Gabi was assured that VPI had been sending lions to
South Africa since 2003 and that VPI was the right organisation to
ensure the cub’s safe 'return to the wild'.
However at the time Camorhi was still owned by Maryn and Marius
Prinsloo, both of whom have been implicated in canned lion hunting
charges, most notably in the 1997 Cook Report. The ‘haven’ which
Frida was destined for, was nothing more then a cover operation to
import lions for speed-breeding purposes.
“Numerous bodies including WAG, Born Free Foundation and
ourselves warned VPI exactly what Camorhi had been implicated in,
as well as to offer VPI alternative options,’ says Chris Mercer of
Campaign against Canned Hunting. "
But VPI has continuously refused the requests of Frida’s owners,
numerous international animal welfare organisations and their
supporters, to transfer the young lioness to a place of safety,
namely Drakenstein Lion Park near Cape Town.
VPI came under further scrutiny recently when it offered to
purchase Camorhi from the Prinsloos for R7.8million (for land, all
animals and movables), including 8 white lions and 40 tawny lions.
However upon
finalisation of the sale, Prinsloo took 8 white and 15 tawny lions
to his new game farm Ingulule which openly advertises canned lion
hunts on the internet.
Camorhi has since been renamed Lionsrock.
“The commercial dealings of VPI have left a lot of questions
unanswered, such as why would an animal welfare organisation spend
millions in buying a known canned lion hunting farm thus adding to
the enrichment of such a person? More over why are they not
respecting the wishes of Frida’s legal owners and moving her to
Drakenstein?” questions Mercer.
In a document seen by Campaign for Canned Hunting, VPI make known
that their plan for Lionsrock is to be “able to house all the 500
European cats and the 3,500 estimated cats in South
Africa”.
In terms of animal welfare
and financial grounds it is not feasible to import large numbers of
exotic
lions and other big cats, when South Africa is already struggling
to deal
with its many thousands of unwanted lions and big cats of its
own. If VPI
is genuinely concerned about big cats in Europe, then it should
provide
sanctuaries in Europe itself, and not subject these animals to
wholly
unnecessary relocation to South Africa, at great expense.
“In addition, there must be considerable doubt over the
statement that
Lionsrock Park is being used as a ‘big cat sanctuary’ when Vier
Pfoten
International has already condemned 23 lions (and numerous other
animals) that were at Camorhi to their deaths by failing to give
them sanctuary when they had the chance to do so when buying
Camorhi. Instead, they handed them over to their original
owner even though these creatures were in the final asking price
for the farm, knowing that they would be hunted’ concludes
Mercer.
"With all the misery of animal suffering in
Europe and elsewhere, animal lovers in Europe should not have to
discover that their donations have been misused to promote the
canned lion hunting industry."
For the time being Frida remains at Lionsrock and the battle rages
on to
her welfare.
http://vierpfoten.org/