Blood Lions DVD released in South Africa

Thanks to an extraordinary partnership with Indigenous Film Distribution, the dynamic team that brought you the groundbreaking feature documentary called Blood Lions in 2015, are proud to announce that you can now purchase your very own full version DVD copy in South Africa. This is especially exciting as most of the footage was captured here, on home soil, and is at the heart of where the canned hunting and predator breeding industry is fuelled.

Blood Lions follows environmental journalist and safari operator, Ian Michler, and American hunter, Rick Swazey, as they expose the multi-million dollar industry of canned hunting – where lions are bred and raised in confined areas for trophy hunting. Also known as captive bred lion hunting, canned hunts allow hunters to select their lion ahead of time and complete a hunt in a matter of days. Canned hunts provide a cheaper and faster way of hunting predatory animals compared to wild lion hunts.

“It is extremely appropriate that Blood Lions is being released in South Africa. The challenge now is to ensure that as many people as possible get to see the film, including all politicians and other decision-makers,” said lead and consultant for the film, Ian Michler.

Indigenous Film Distribution aim to deliver African content that resonates with Africans, while providing growth opportunities to local filmmakers. By taking on Blood Lions, Indigenous Film did just that. “Simply put, we want more South Africans watching more South African movies, and it is a goal that is firmly within our sights,” said Helen Kuun of Indigenous Film Distribution. “To be able to offer Blood Lions on DVD, following their very successful festival run around the world, makes us very excited!”

Producer and driving force behind the film Pippa Hankinson said: “We have been overwhelmed by the extraordinary response that Blood Lions has received from so many across the world – and we so appreciate the wonderful support of Helen and her team at Indigenous Film Distribution. Blood Lions exposes the cruel exploitation of South Africa’s lions, which are being mass bred in facilities that resemble puppy mills. These magnificent creatures are being bottle-fed and hand-reared simply for the bullet – for vast profits – in an industry that is not open to public scrutiny. Our film is a call to all who view it to make responsible choices around their roles and responsibilities towards our planet and the incredible wildlife with which we have the privilege to share it. Our hope is that Blood Lions will help make the changes that are so needed – that it will ensure that our children’s children will be able to see these majestic animals roaming free in the wild where they rightfully belong!”

The DVD can be purchased at Takealot.com at only ZAR85 as a special introductory offer for March 2016.

WATCH: 61 canned lions sold at auction, seen living under ‘dubious’ conditions

Cape Town – When US Fish & Wildlife Service announced that as of January 22, 2016, all American trophy hunters would have to file additional permits before they could import their trophies from Africa, it was believed that lion hunts would be reduced.

Unfortunately this perception has not held true.

CannedLion.org reports a Free State lion-breeding operation put 61 captive-bred lions up for auction on 17 February – “a massive lion sale, even by South African lion industry standards… with a number of invisible telephone buyers”.

Advertised by South Africa’s biggest wildlife-game auctioneer, Vleissentraal, the auction was held at the Olivia Private Game Reserve near Bloemfontein in the Free State and saw 61 lions and two leopards go under the hammer – at a cost of “R58 000 each for the leopards” and “just over R2 million had changed hands” for the rest of the lions.

While the practice is not illegal in South Africa, it is widely questioned for what is believed to beunethical breeding practices and providing a backdoor for unauthorised or illegal hunts to take place – with awareness spearheaded most recently through the documentary Blood Lions.

In video footage posted to YouTube, the living conditions of young lion pens on Olivia Game Ranch are shown and calls into question the “dubious genetic status” of some of the lion cubs.

#BloodLions to shine canned hunting spotlight at ITB Berlin

Cape Town –  Major international tourism trade fair ITB Berlin has asked for the ground-breaking film Blood Lions to be shown at the event, taking place from the 9th to the 13th of March.

Blood Lions said in a statement on its Facebook page that the response from the global community to the practice of breeding lions, as well as the mis-management of wild lions – purely for the entertainment of the tourism community – over the last year has been astounding.

“Who would have thought that a single lion, Cecil, and a documentary such as Blood Lions would have brought upon such a rapid and engaged response?”

In addition to the special screenings, Blood Lions will take part in panel discussions and a workshop to unpack how tourism and travel activities can play a part in ensuring the exploitation of predators is no longer an acceptable practice.

Predator breeders under fire for lack of reform

THE CAPTIVE-BRED lion industry in South Africa is one of the greatest conservation success stories in recent decades as predator breeders are the “true friends of the lion”.

This is the claim of Pieter Potgieter, the president of the SA Predator Association (Sapa), who believes its “ranch lions” offer a crucial protective layer safeguarding South Africa’s wild lion population from serious damage.

He says wild lions are saved by their captive cousins.

“Lion numbers are dwindling everywhere.., except in South Africa. Here they are increasing in spite of being a desirable commodity in a very healthy industry That is the true contribution of the ranch lion population.”

His association, which represents the lion breeding and hunting industry, was responding to a critical article by Adam Cruise, a writer of Conservation Action Trust about the scale of captive-bred lion hunting.

South Africa’s estimated wild lion population stands at 2 100, says Potgieter. “If the apparent trend continues and 748 lions a year are bagged by trophy hunters, the wild lion population will be wiped off the face of South Africa in a mere three years.

“It is true that South Africa supplies almost 80 percent of the lion trophies worldwide. But a minuscule number of these are wild lions, 10 or fewer a year. So, less than one half of one percent of the trophies come from wild lions. The rest are supplied by the ranch lion industry.”

Yet, in recent months, the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa has distanced itself from the captive-breeding of lions, labelling it as “a practice which a great majority of hunters regard as an embarrassment”.

It has criticised the predator breeders “for instead of joining the worldwide move to reform this industry, it was trying to preserve its captive-bred hunting component”.

Its president, Stan Burger, revealed how it has for years tried to “introduce generally acceptable standards for lion breeding and hunting” and “it was only when it became clear that this attempt would continue to fail in the face of Sapa’s persistent recalcitrance that we dissociated ourselves from them”.

Last year, the documentary Blood Lions won wide acclaim for its expose of the predator breeding and canned-lion hunting industries in South Africa.

Captive-bred lion hunting is not only ethically repugnant, but it poses a real threat to the future of the entire trophy hunting industry, says Burger.

“Sapa also claims it is very much aware of and seriously committed towards conservation of lions in the wild.

“What it does not say, however, is that in 2014 – the most recent year for which statistics are available – lion hunting in South Africa generated revenue of close to R200 million, while Sapa’s conservation fund only managed to raise R200 000 or 0.1 percent of that total.

“This hardly suggests an energetic conservation commitment. In addition, it seeks to equate its members with buffalo and rhino owners when, of course, there is no comparison.”

Conservation threats in South Africa highlighted at Probus

The threats conservation is facing in South Africa was highlighted in a thought provoking talk titled“Threats to Wildlife Conservation in South Africa” by leading conservationist Stewart Dorrington of Meloranji Safaris, at the monthly Probus meeting in Port Alfred last week.

Dorrington has many years of experience in this area with deep insight into the many difficulties facing the industry.

The main thrust of Dorrington’s talk was his passionate concern over the amount of damage being done to the preservation of African wildlife by misinformed groups in the West and individuals who are dead against any form of hunting. In his opinion, the main protagonists are anti-hunting lobbies and misinformed, biased journalism.

In 2015, Nic Chevallier and Bruce Young produced an 85-minute film which followed Ian Michler, a South African conservationist, and Rick Swazey, an American hunter, on their journey to the heart of the predator breeding and canned lion hunting industry. Their story apparently blew the lid off claims made by those involved in the industry and their attempts to justify the disgusting trade they are involved in. As expected, the film caused a huge wave of anti-hunting sentiment.

Dorrington told the audience that he, together with seven others, two years ago started a website that voiced their outrage over the practice of captive breeding of lions by trophy hunters, condemning this vile practice and calling on the authorities to update legislation to prevent the continuation of the slaughter of captive bred lions.

According to Stewart Dorrington, they have managed to harness the support of the general public and together with most ethical hunters have succeeded in their endeavour to persuade the government to legislate against the trade of canned lion hunting; the good news is that the government is drawing up new legislation which is currently being promulgated to end the unethical practices exposed in the Blood Lions documentary. Furthermore, most provinces in South Africa have now banned the practice of shooting captive bred lions.  The fact is that most hunters and outfitters in Africa deplore the practice of canned lion hunting and condemn it as being both unethical and a risk to trophy hunting in Africa. Dorrington went on to add that he shares the sentiment – along with many other South African professional hunters – that “lion hunting gives all hunting a bad name.”

However, Dorrington contends that sustainable hunting creates thousands of jobs in Africa and contributes to the incomes of countless thousands. Sustainable hunting practices are   endorsed by international conservation groups such as CITES and the IUCN.

Little is said in the press about the flourishing and hugely damaging bushmeat trade, which is wiping out wildlife at a tremendous rate.  More and more of Africa’s wildlife is being concentrated in ever decreasing smaller pockets of land, due to the increasing demand for land for development. “Where is the anger regarding that,” asked Dorrington? “Emotions have run away from logic and sanity, and the animal rights groups are milking as much as they can out of the uninformed and ignorant public… These same animal rights groups are financially benefitting from this tragedy; wildlife is certainly not!”

He touched on the recent global scandal surrounding the shooting of the aged lion, Cecil, saying that he would have died of natural causes long ago, had he still been living in the wild.  He feels that although the incident was deplorable, it was blown way out of proportion by animal rights groups and emotional individuals when compared with the scale of human suffering in Africa.

There are some who believe that a total ban on animal hunting trade would kill off demand.  Elephant poaching is soaring and it is unlikely that the one-off sale of elephant tusks seven years ago is the cause, as is claimed by the anti-trade group. Nor is the burning of ivory having any impact on poaching. Perhaps it should be researched as to whether it is better to have farmed wild animals or no wild animals at all. Conservationists have a long uphill battle to save wildlife. Dorrington added that he personally abhorred the concept of farming wild animals commercially, but it could sadly be the last resort.

Anthropomorphism is one of the biggest problems for conservation today, with the likes of Disney and Animal Planet, for example, giving human names and characteristics to animals. The global outrage over Cecil has sounded alarm bells in many conservation NGOs in that a single lion could make world headlines for so long.  This does not help the cause of wildlife conservation, as it advocates sentimental rather than scientific attitudes about conservation.

Wildlands and the Msunduzi Municipality – A Partnership inspired by Sustainability

Wildlands, a leading Hilton based environmental NPO, are dedicated to conserving South Africa’s biodiversity and together with the Msunduzi Municipality launched the Kerbside Programme in 2013. The Kerbside/ Orange Bag programme is aimed at providing residents with a convenient and hassle free recycling collection service.

“Wildlands are very proud to be able to say that they assisted the Msunduzi Municipality with the establishment of the Orange Bag recycling model,” said Wildlands’ CEO Dr Andrew Venter. “However, after almost 3 years of successful recycling collections Wildlands have decided to hand over this service and the rolling out of this programme to the new and upcoming network of SMME’s. We are shifting our focus to more catalytic interventions that have defined socio-economic benefits.”

Wildlands will now focus their local efforts on their Waste-preneur (community members who collect and barter their waste for livelihood support) and school networks. These are both strong networks that have a significant impact on waste management in the 2 municipalities, namely Msunduzi and uMngeni, whilst underwriting the development of 1000’s of micro-entrepreneurs and embedding the philosophy of recycling at a scholar level.

“Since establishing this model it has been exciting to watch the industry expand at a rapid rate! There are a group of emerging SMME’s that the Msunduzi Municipality have committed to supporting this coming year and they will ensure the Kerbside Programme continues to run smoothly and effectively for residents. As Wildlands we would like to convey our sincere and heartfelt appreciation to the Msunduzi Municipality for their amazing contribution and continued support in ensuring the Kerbside Programmes’ success, and as a result will continue collecting from the 7 Recycling Villages which we have across the 2 municipalities, as these provide an important community service,” concluded Venter.

NEWS: Official statement by African Lion Working Group (ALWG) on canned hunting and captive breeding

It is the opinion of the African Lion Working Group (ALWG) that captive-bred lion hunting, which is defined by ALWG as the sport hunting of lions that are captive bred and reared expressly for sport hunting and/ or sport hunting of lions that occur in fenced enclosures and are not self-sustaining does not provide any demonstrated positive benefit to wild lion conservation efforts and therefore cannot be claimed to be conservation.

In addition while more data are still needed, the international lion bone trade that is currently being supplied by the South African captive-bred lion industry may fuel an increased demand for wild lion bones elsewhere. This could negatively impact wild lion populations and hinder conservation efforts. The recent dramatic increase in lion bone trade should be reason for concern.

The estimated 8,000 lions in South Africa currently being maintained and bred on game farms as part of this industry should not be included in any assessments of the current status of wild lions.

Captive breeding of lions for sport hunting, hunting of captive-bred lion and the associated cub petting industry are not conservation tools. In our opinion they are businesses and outside the remit of the African Lion Working Group and should be dealt with accordingly.

 

Want to see ‘Blood Lions’? Here’s how…

There has been a lot of buzz about the canned hunting documentary Blood Lions, however many people have been unable see to it due to the film only being viewed through limited screenings.

But now there’s good news for those who want to see what the hype is about but have been unable to attend the events – the documentary is going to be released on DVD.

The Blood Lions team on Wednesday announced that the documentary will become available on DVD in March.

“Thanks to an extraordinary partnership with Indigenous Film Distribution, the dynamic team that brought you a ground breaking feature documentary called Blood Lions in 2015, are proud to announce that you can now purchase your very own full version DVD copy in South Africa,” the team said on their site.

The DVD can be pre-ordered on Takealot.com for a special introductory price of R85.

It seems that after the introductory period is over, the DVD’s price will increase to R119.

The DVD will be shipped to customers on March 14.

Wildlands recognised at iLembe District SEEP & ECO-Schools Awards

A leading environmental non-profit organisation, Wildlands, received three special awards for its outstanding community work in the green-jobs sector at the iLembe District SEEP & ECO-Schools Awards for 2015, held in KwaDukuza recently.

The iLembe District Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) started the School Environmental Education Programme (SEEP), with a primary purpose to instill a culture of conserving the environment in youngsters.

Wildlands’ David Moldenhauer was honoured for his role in the Youth Environmental Services (YES) programme – a partnership between the Department of Environmental Affairs and Wildlands, which currently boasts about 200 school leavers who work with communities in promoting environmental conservation.

David Moldenhauer said it was wonderful that communities, Wildlands and stakeholders such as iLembe EDTEA and the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) were able to work together in a way that truly made a difference. He added that, “With a shared vision and combined commitment it is clear that great potential awaits those willing to take responsibility for their futures.”

Moldenhauer also thanked his team on the ground who worked hard to achieve the results that they were recognized for. “I would also like to thank Sandile Mathenjwa who received this award on my behalf, as I share this recognition with him,” he said.

Tongaat based Ubuntu Earth Ambassador, Thinta Khumalo, received an award for Wildlands’ Recycling and Trees for Life projects which have made a difference to the lives of his fellow Ndwedwe community members.

Wildlands was also recognized for assisting Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife with the 2015 Coastal Clean-up (19 September 2015). The Wildlands’ team of volunteers cleaned the beaches adjacent to Beachwood Nature Reserve in Durban. International Clean-Up Day occurs around the world in an attempt to clean up the beautiful coastlines and create awareness about the health of our oceans.

These awards are indicative of the organisations’ commitment to building resilient communities and a sustainable future for all.

PRESS RELEASE: Blood Lions™ DVD released in South Africa

Thanks to an extraordinary partnership with Indigenous Film Distribution, the dynamic team that brought you a ground breaking feature documentary called Blood Lions™ in 2015, are proud to announce that you can now purchase your very own full version DVD copy in South Africa. This is especially exciting as most of the footage was captured here, on home soil, and is at the heart of where the canned hunting and predator breeding industry is fuelled.

Blood Lions™ follows environmental journalist and safari operator, Ian Michler, and American hunter, Rick Swazey, as they expose the multi-million dollar industry of canned hunting – where lions are bred and raised in confined areas for trophy hunting.  Also known as captive bred lion hunting, canned hunts allow hunters to select their lion ahead of time and complete a hunt in a matter of days.  Canned hunts provide a cheaper and faster way of hunting predatory animals compared to wild lion hunts.

“It is extremely appropriate that Blood Lions™ is being released in South Africa. The challenge now is to ensure that as many people as possible get to see the film, including all politicians and other decision-makers,” said Lead and Consultant for the film, Ian Michler.

Indigenous Film Distribution aim to deliver African content that resonates with Africans, while providing growth opportunities to local film makers. By taking on Blood Lions™ Indigenous Film did just that. “Simply put we want more South Africans watching more South African movies, and it is a goal that is firmly within our sights,” said Helen Kuun of Indigenous Film Distribution. “To be able to offer Blood Lions™ on DVD, following their very successful festival run around the world, makes us very excited!”

Producer and driving force behind the film Pippa Hankinson said: “We have been overwhelmed by the extraordinary response that Blood Lions™ has received from so many across the world – and we so appreciate the wonderful support of Helen and her team at Indigenous Film Distribution. Blood Lions™ exposes the cruel exploitation of South Africa’s lions which are being mass bred in facilities which resemble puppy mills.   These magnificent creatures are being bottle-fed and hand-reared simply for the bullet – for vast profits – in an industry which is not open to public scrutiny.   Our film is a call to all who view it to make responsible choices around their roles and responsibilities towards our planet and the incredible wildlife with whom we have the privilege to share it.   Our hope is that Blood Lions™ will help make the changes that are so needed – that it will ensure that our children’s children will be able to see these majestic animals roaming free in the wild where they rightfully belong!”

The DVD (in PAL Format – Phase Alternating Line) can be purchased at Takealot.com (http://www.takealot.com/blood-lions-dvd/PLID41221078) at only R85 as a special introductory offer for March 2016.