Great news from South Africa! We welcome the High Court of South Africa Gauteng Division’s ruling on 2017 and 2018 quotas for the exportation of lion bones.

On 6 August, the court ruled that the quota set in 2017 on 800 lion bones and the 2018 quota of 1 500 lion bones was unlawful and constitutionally invalid.

In order to understand this, let us step back and look a little bit at the process by which South Africa sets annual export quotas for trade in ion bone, bone pieces, bone products, claws skeletons, and skulls.

Prior to 2016, there was no legal restriction in place that sought to limit the quantity of lion bone to be exported from South Africa. Export permits were issued by Provincial Management Authorities.

At the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (“Cop 17”) held in Johannesburg in October 2016, a number of African countries proposed to transfer the African Lion to Appendix I. (Appendix I includes all species threatened with extinction and trade in them would be the subject of particularly strict regulation and be authorised only in exceptional circumstances. Appendix II includes all species, which although not threatened with extinction may become so unless trade in them was subject to strict regulation to prevent utilisation incompatible with their survival). However, the proposal was not approved and the meeting instead resolved that the African Lion would remain on Appendix II, subject to the following annotation:

‘A zero annual export quota is established for specimens of bones, bone pieces, bone products, claws, skeletons, skull and teeth removed from the wild and traded for commercial purposes.

Annual export quotas for trade in of bones, bone pieces, bone products, claws, skeletons, skulls and teeth for commercial purposes derived from captive breeding operations in South Africa will be established and communicated annually to the CITES Secretariat”.

 Going back to the ruling, the National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) was the applicant, and the respondents were the Minister of Environmental Affairs and the South African Predators Association. The NSPCA objected to the way in which the quota had initially been determined as it ignored welfare considerations.

In the ruling, judge Kollapen criticized the government for its lack of consideration towards animal welfare issues in deciding on the export quota. He ruled that the treatment of lions in captivity must be considered an environmental issue and its relationship with the commercial activities that arise from its operations was “inextricably linked to the constitutional issue of what may constitute the elements of the right to an environment and the right to have it protected for the benefit of this and future generations”.

In conclusion, the Court declares that the Minister of Environmental Affairs’ decision to set the quota for the exportation of lion bone (of 800 skeletons) which were established on 28 June 2017 on 7 June 2018 are UNLAWFUL and CONSTITUTIONALLY INVALID

DEFINITELY, A GREAT WIN FOR THE LIONS!

Read more on captive breeding of lions and canned hunting in South Africa here: https://www.oipa.org/international/hunting-lions/