South Africa's Out-of-Control Big Cat Industry – And How to Tackle It
FOUR PAWS’ new report examines the country’s involvement in the commercial exploitation, legal and illegal trade of big cat species
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South Africa’s big cat industry is out of control. A lack of effective regulation and legislation has allowed an industry to grow to an industrial scale and perpetuate illegal trade.
South Africa's out-of-control big cat industry – and how to tackle it
A report revealing the countries out of control big cat industry and how a lack of effective regulation and legislation has allowed this industry to grow.
The problem
The five big cat species (tigers, lions, leopard, jaguar and snow leopard) are under threat due to poaching and international trade in their parts. The illegal trade of live big cats and their parts threatens their survival and has led to local extinctions, particularly in tigers, resulting in the poaching of other big cats as substitutes.
In South Africa, fragmented regulation for non-native big cats such as tigers has allowed tiger farming to flourish. As a result, the country’s big cat industry is a source of illegal trade where tigers can be farmed, killed, and traded with ease.
The country is the world's largest exporter of big cats and their parts from commercial big cat farms. South Africa supplies big cats and their parts to Asian countries some of which are hotspots for consumer demand for big cat parts used in traditional medicines and as so-called luxury items. Demand for tiger products is a threat to nearly all big cats due to the convergence in the use of products from other big cat species, and this demand drives poaching and trafficking.
By supplying and stimulating consumer demand that contributes to illegal trade, South Africa’s captive big cat industry undermines global conservation and enforcement efforts.
Recommendations
The report sets out solutions to tackle the issue and phase out the industry:
- South Africa to prohibit all commercial trade of big cats, parts and derivatives within, into and from the country.
- South Africa to end the captive keeping of all big cats for commercial purposes, close captive big cat facilities, end the intensive breeding of big cats in controlled environments, and end the commercial exploitation of captive and captive-bred big cats.
- South Africa phases out its big cat industry, implementing a phase-out plan with goal of a complete closure by 2030.
- South Africa to implement all relevant CITES Decisions and Resolutions relating to big cats.
- South Africa takes the leading role in advocating for the protection of all big cats by proposing that they be granted the same level of protection under CITES.
