World Lions Day is celebrated on 10 August each year. A previous study released by the World Society for the Protection of Animals showed that in addition to the familiar elephant rides and dolphin performances in the top ten recreational programs that harm wild animals in the world, walking with lions is also included. It specifically refers to the fact that juvenile lions are forced to provide "walking with people" services for tourists and are unable to ride freely in nature.
Due to the regional characteristics of the distribution of wild lions, people do not pay much attention to lion-related entertainment projects in China. On July 22, 2022, Changsha's "Fun Kingdom" officially opened, and according to local media reports, in this new Internet celebrity punch card, visitors can shake hands with kangaroos and eat with lions.
Wildlife tourism involves many types of tourism activities, including seeing animals in their natural habitats, watching animal shows in captive wildlife tourist attractions, interacting with animals, and more. The World Society for the Protection of Animals believes that the use of wild animals for entertainment is one of the important drivers of stimulating the illegal global wildlife trade, which further exacerbates the endangered status of species and undermines the balance of ecosystems.
On July 20, 2022 local time, two lions were kept in an iron cage in a zoo in the Gaza Strip. rex photo/IC photo
South African lion farms hide the lion bone trade and live trade
On August 10, the World Society for the Protection of Animals released a new study that found that more than 70% of tourists worldwide want to ban trophy hunting.
The data is derived from a survey of attitudes towards trophy hunting conducted by 10,900 tourists around the world, including South African citizens and tourists from nine countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, India and Brazil, who frequent South Africa. The results showed that respondents strongly opposed the bloody campaign of loot hunting and wanted to fund the conservation of Lions in South Africa through alternatives such as wildlife-friendly travel.
What is loot hunting? According to reports, trophy hunting is a selective hunting method for wild animals, and the main hunting targets include lions, leopards, rhinos, etc. Customers will choose their favorite prey through photos, so wild animals have become a clearly priced commodity.
Zheng Yu, wildlife project manager of the World Animal Protection Association, said in an interview with the Beijing News reporter: "There is currently no such tourism activity as trophy hunting in China, but our common wildlife shows and trophy hunting are essentially wild animals as entertainment props, or commodities used to show off, and there is a huge harm to wild animals behind them." ”
As one of South Africa's most iconic species, excessive commercial captivity breeding and legal trade pose a challenge to local wildlife conservation. The study shows that 74% of international visitors believe that the reputation of South Africa will be damaged if trophy hunting is made a major pillar of South Africa's economic development and species conservation policy; 72% will no longer choose South Africa as a tourist destination; 74% of South African citizens agree that trophy hunting should be banned before wildlife-friendly alternatives are fully developed.
South Africa, an African lion striding forward on the prairie. Figure/catersnews/IC photo
According to the World Society for the Protection of Animals, there are 200 lion farms in South Africa and 6,000-8,000 lions are kept in captivity. Such farms provide tourists with tourist entertainment such as "walking with lions" and trophy hunting, as well as hidden lion bone trade and live trade.
Edith Kabesiime, Wildlife Programme Manager at the World Animal Protection Association's Africa Representative Office, said: "Wildlife should not be a commodity to be sold for a price, this is the common sentiment of international tourists and the South African public. The voice of the South African public should be heard, and most people are reluctant to exploit wildlife commercially and seek changes to protect local wildlife. Trophy hunters often carry out such animal cruelty and recreation under the pretext of benefiting the community economy and animal protection. At present, public awareness of animal protection is rapidly increasing, and the hunting of wild animals for fun has changed over time. ”
Animal welfare issues brought about by the loss of freedom
In recent years, supporting wildlife-friendly tourism and protecting wildlife affected by the tourism and entertainment industry have become the focus.
"Wildlife-friendly tourism" refers to participating in and experiencing tourism activities that operate responsibly and minimize negative impacts on wildlife, with the concept that wild animals belong to the wild.
Zheng Yu believes that this concept was proposed to reverse the current situation of a large number of wild animals being used in captivity for tourism and entertainment, and to guide tourism companies to carry out responsible actions to remove and stop selling such tourism products that cause harm to wild animals. "It is more important to establish the correct relationship between humans and animals, to experience the true and diverse beauty of animals in a way that respects life and treats animals well."
The definition of "animal-friendly tourism" also appears in the Code of Conduct for "Animal-Friendly Tourism" in a Wildlife-Friendly Holiday Guide provided by the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
On August 4, 2022, local time, South Africa, lionesses demonstrated her dribbling and interception skills in a wildlife sanctuary. Photo/newscom/IC photo
The Code of Conduct also includes: refusal of recreational performances for wild animals, natural behavior of choosing to see wild animals in their natural habitat; Keep quiet, take care to keep an appropriate distance from wildlife, and avoid direct contact; Advocate that tourists choose places where animals are well protected and experience the natural charm of animals in a way that does not disturb them.
"Animal-friendly tourism" advises visitors to take more responsibility into account when making tourism decisions, to be able to put animal welfare at the center, not to visit attractions that harm animal welfare, to actively seek friendly options for wildlife tourism, or to opt for other types of tourism activities (such as experiencing local culture) as an alternative.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals believes that the freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from (environmental) discomfort, freedom from pain, injury and disease, freedom to express normal behavior and nature, freedom from fear and grief on the issue of animal welfare are the five basic principles of animal welfare. If these five principles are not met, it means that the activity or attraction is harmful to the animal and there is an animal welfare problem.
"These activities (wildlife tourism activities) tend to seem light and enjoyable, but their purpose is to entertain tourists, and wildlife activities are restricted and cannot express normal natural behaviors, so there are often serious welfare problems." Zheng Yu said.
Previous studies have shown that captive wildlife for tourism and entertainment requires long and intense training to perform and interact with tourists. Their activities are restricted and unable to express truly natural animal behavior, and frequent performance activities can seriously damage their physical and mental health, causing more pain to animals.
Commercial captivity breeding stimulates the deformed development of the tourism and entertainment industry
In May 2021, South Africa announced the end of commercial lion farming. However, experts from the World Association for the Protection of Animals said that this forward-looking policy now needs substantial progress.
Some experts said that the development of wildlife-friendly tourism and the elimination of trophy hunting, lion farming and other initiatives have helped to enhance South Africa's international image in terms of wildlife-friendly tourism experience, making the country a responsible high-quality tourism destination, which will be more attractive to travelers and operators in the future, thus further promoting the sustainable transformation and development of local tourism.
An extremely rare baby white lion was born in Kruger National Park in South Africa, and a mother lion is walking around with a baby lion. Figure/catersnews/IC photo
Zheng Yu believes that this initiative is worth learning from China. Commercial captive breeding actually places these big cats in the commercial chain of traditional medicine and trophy hunting, because excessive commercial captivity breeding will continue to drive up the demand for wildlife products in the market, and will further stimulate the deformed development of the tourism and entertainment industry, which will adversely affect wildlife conservation. "Wild animals are not commodities, wild animals belong to nature. Building a harmonious relationship between man and nature requires the joint participation of relevant departments, enterprises, the public and other parties. ”
On 8 July 2022, South Africa published a draft white paper on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity species in South Africa, which will be open to the public for comments for the next 60 days.
Nick Stewart, global head of the World Animal Conservation Association's Wildlife Programme, has said the white paper is a good start to the idea that South Africa aims to create a country that lives in harmony with nature and helps conserve the country's biodiversity. But the white paper fails to explicitly ban the global commercial wildlife trade.
It is worth noting that as public awareness of wildlife conservation increases, more and more tourists choose to refuse to participate. When the public participates in wildlife tourism activities, the Wildlife Friendly Vacation Guide reminds that wild animals should be in the background of the photo, a certain distance from tourists, and live in natural habitats. Do not hug wild animals when taking group photos, which are often separated from their mothers at an early age and may have been abused for a long time. At the same time, do not chase, catch, or deliberately seduce them, otherwise it will have a long-term negative impact on their biological habits.
Zheng Yu said: "We recommend that when participating in wildlife-related tourism activities, do a good job of travel research in advance, pay attention to the survival of wild animals in scenic spots, and if you find that you can pet, ride and watch wildlife performances in scenic spots, please do not participate." ”
Beijing News reporter Zhang Jianlin
Edited by Chen Jing Proofread by Xue Jingning