Grace Kahler/The HSUS

Urge the South African government to protect big cats.

Please urge the South African government to take immediate action to prohibit keeping tigers, lions and other big cat species as pets, and ban public contact with these animals, including interactive experiences like cub petting and walking with big cats.

Your Message

Subject*

Minister

Thokozile

Didiza

Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development,

Media Liaison Officer

Reggie

Ngcobo

griculture, Land Reform and Rural Development

Mr.

Feroze

Shaik

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

Private Executive Secreta

Buchule

Mbuli

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

Dear Ministers Didiza and Creecy,

You are no doubt aware of the recent escapes of three “pet” tigers in the greater Johannesburg area, one resulting in the destruction of a tiger named Sheba. These are not the first events that have resulted in concerns over the keeping of exotic wild animals as pets. These events highlight both the complete lack of oversight surrounding the keeping of dangerous wildlife as pets, like big cats, in South Africa, and the need for immediate action to urgently address this issue.

Both exotic and indigenous wild animals like big cats require specialised care, diet, housing, and a huge amount of space that the average owner cannot provide. They are also apex predators who, by their very nature, hunt and kill for their survival and can pose significant safety risks to their owners, other animals, and the surrounding community. According to Blood Lions, between 1996 and 2020, 52 big cat attacks were reported, involving 58 people, and 31 percent of these attacks were fatal (Marnewick, K and de Waal, L. Biting the Hand that Feeds You: Attacks by Captive Carnivores Cause Deaths and Injuries in South Africa. African Journal of Wildlife Research). Of the attacks, 66 percent were tourists, which negatively impacts South Africa’s international reputation as a safe and responsible tourist destination.

Keeping these animals captive in confined spaces as pets or tourist interaction commodities also has serious welfare concerns for the individual animals. Without adequate regulations providing for compliance monitoring, nor minimum standards of keeping, housing, security and welfare, the health and well-being of these animals and the public at large will be constantly at risk.

Whilst some provinces have enacted local permitting requirements and restrictions pertaining to exotic wild animals, this issue needs to be uniformly addressed across the nation to prevent an unregulated industry breeding large exotic wild animals to grow in parallel to the legal captive lion breeding industry. In South Africa, there are approximately 366 facilities that breed and keep lions and other big cats. These facilities produce animals for the pet and animal interaction industry as well as for trophy hunting and the bone/wildlife trade. Even with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) trade restrictions, lion and tiger bone is still regularly exported illegally out of South Africa.

Minister Creecy, you committed to closing the captive lion breeding industry in May 2021 after supporting the recommendations of the High-Level Panel on the management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros (https://www.dffe.gov.za/speeches/creecy_releaseofhlpreport_pretoria). However, there has been no discussion surrounding the closure of the breeding of exotic big cat species. This could ultimately form a replacement industry. Similarly, no action to stop the keeping of large and dangerous big cats, either exotic or indigenous, as pets has been taken.

We request that immediate action is taken by both the Departments of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, and Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to introduce legislation that prohibits keeping tigers, lions and other big cat species as pets. The legislation should include banning public contact with all big cat species, including keeping such species as ambassador animals, and interactive experiences like cub petting and walking with big cats.

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