We think of the mighty lion as king or queen of the jungle
and as an iconic role player in the food chain. We savour the lion's presence
in our subconscious, in our dreams and in the imagination of children. But the
reality is grim and bleak: the lion is
often held captive, kept for breeding, used in canned hunting, poached and has its
body parts transported by operators along smuggling routes. Cubs are often taken away, used for zoo petting and raised to be
similarly killed for financial gain.
This year the issues come to a head with the United Nations'
CITES conference in South Africa at the end of September and the IUCN
conference in Hawai. The latter conference focuses on "conservation "
and achievement of the sustainable development goals, with a dominant focus on
climate change. But it may also present an important platform, especially since
the IUCN (according to a list it released in 2014) noted that the African lion
populations have experienced an overall decline of 43 per cent between 1993 and
2014. The CITES conference will look at the issues of "trade"
and "endangered species" -- as such, it allows for the issue of
lions to be raised more pertinently and forcefully.
These multinational spaces concerned with "lists"
of which animals are threatened with extinction and which
are endangered
themselves pose problems to those concerned about the position of the lion. In
such forums, the pro "regulated trade" and "regulated hunting"
lobby groups are powerful. Based on their successes in terms of breeding in captivity,
they argue strongly for regulated trade. They have a yearning for animals to be
taken off the threatened list. They assert that regulated trade would be good for species
protection. However, many of us who have a deep concern for Africa's lions refuse
to accept that industrialisation of lions (valuing lions in the main for the
hunter's gun and because body parts can be used as trophies and aphrodisiacs)
is the way to go.
On the other hand, ten African countries have called for the
strongest protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES). They have submitted a proposal to transfer all populations of the
African lion from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I, according to the
organisation Annamaticus which fights to
stop the economic exploitation of endangered species.
Annamaticus states: "The African lion (Panthera leo) has been listed in CITES
Appendix II since 1977. However, this mechanism for regulating trade has been
poorly implemented for nearly four decades. Appendix II has proven insufficient
to halt the precipitous decline of lion populations and the Appendix I listing
is long overdue.“
The situation of white lions represent a matter of specific
concern. Most members of the public don't realise the precarious and untenable
position of white lions. That is because they see them on game farms and in
zoos. But there are only 12 white lions in the wild; the rest are in captivity.
The critical position of the white lion, however, is often masked because CITES
categorises them together with tawny lions.
Against this back background, Linda Tucker and her Global
White Lion Protection Trust, has launched the One United Roar (O.U.R.)
campaign. This campaign (details here) involves young people from all over the world to
highlight the perspective of the lion itself in these debates and discussions.
The campaign involved getting children to upload a simply
made video on to the trust's website. Through a combination of public
participation and assessment by judges six videos that are most emblematic of
the issues at stake. The 6 children will be given an opportunity to visit the
white lion territory near Hoedspruit and be given further opportunities to send
their message to policymakers. Tucker is on record as saying that with O.U.R.
she wants to take the campaign to a visceral level. The aims is – in addition
to the rational arguments to properly protect the lions – to get policymakers to hear the message as
coming from the hearts of children and in turn to engage from a deeper level of
consciousness.
(Lion image by johnny_automatic)
(Lion image by johnny_automatic)
