The hunting industry is a very controversial one as helpless animals are raised in captivity and then used for the entertainment of others.
Ingogo Safaris is a company that focuses on trophy hunting and makes a lot of illicit money out of it. The way they operate is to raise lions in captivity and then offer them as trophies to rich hunters who are willing to pay a lot of money in order to kill the poor animals.
Photos of 250 starving lions, resurfaced the Internet and it seems that they all came from a farm located in the South African province of Limpopo, where they were breeding them exclusively for hunting. The neighbors of the farm managed to take photos of the starving lions and sent them to the CEO of the Captured in Africa Foundation. The lions were malnourished and neglected, and this was not the first time such images were captured on this farm.
Back in 2014, a volunteer helping there also managed to capture similar pictures and report them, but the owner of the farm argued that the images were old and did not reflect reality.
NSPCA’s Wildlife Protection Unit investigated the farm and issued a warning after they found several malnourished lions there. The NSPCA told Walter Slippers, the owner of the farm, to introduce an equitable feeding system and provide proof of each lion’s vet records.
If he refuses to cooperate, he will be charged with animal cruelty. After these events, concerns were raised regarding the massive hunting industry and most of the members of The Professional Hunter’s Association of Africa concluded that they would not participate in the hunting of lions bred in captivity if they do not compel with the requirements of the SAPA (South African Predator’s Association).
The US also banned the import of lion trophies, unless it can be certified that the killing was done for the purpose of conservation.
