ANIMAL lovers took to the streets of Durban last week and marched on City Hall as part of an international stand against canned hunting and cub petting.
The Global March for Lions was a global event with hundreds of cities around the world participating on Saturday 14 March. The group made their way from King Dinuzulu Park to the City Hall, where a memorandum was handed over to the mayor’s office.
The passionate animal activists protested against cub petting where cubs are removed from their mothers at a very young age and used in lion parks, zoos, and road side circuses and where people pay to pet a lion cub.
“The living conditions of these animals is tragic. They are locked in small enclosures, often dirty. Malnourished, they suffer from bone deficiencies, cataract and other eye problems from the camera flashes,” said Clair Crook.
She said the group were also against ‘Walk a Lion’. “Once they are too big to be cute cuddly cubs, tourists are once again enticed to come to Africa and pay to walk with lions. What this does is substitute the care of the lions financially as well as manually. Tourists believe they are assisting in the rehabilitation of these animals, meanwhile, they are just caregivers for those on death row,” she said.
Once the lions are fully grown, they are perfect as a trophy, and this is where canned hunting comes in.
“Once again tourists pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are put in an enclosure with the lion where they shoot and kill the lion, pose for pictures of the ‘great hunt’, and go home with their trophy,” said Clair.
If you are interested in getting involved, contact Clair on 082 460 3188.
