By Sylvia Chebet
South Africa's decision to end captive breeding of lions will see a nearly three-decades-long industry come to a halt, and it is not going down well with the breeders.
Willie Le Roux has been involved in artificial reproductive research with local and international universities since 2006, and in 2017 produced the first lion cubs through artificial insemination.
Le Roux's lodge allows tourists to participate in guided educational walks with lions, which he says, helps pay his employees and fund his research facility.
"(The government) can't have it both ways ... they can't give us (permission) for the research, but then cut off our stream of income," Le Roux, who owns a game lodge, told Reuters news agency.
Asini Sanadi, an animal handler who has worked at Le Roux's lodge for 14 years and is the sole financial provider for his family, said ending big-cat breeding would hurt his livelihood.
Freedom for big cats
However, for conservationists, wild animals belong to the wild, and that is non-negotiable.
Animal Welfare Protection's Wildlife Campaign Manager Edith Kabesiime says wild animals can only live a fulfilling life in their natural habitat.
"They can thrive if they are left to live and breed in a natural way," she tells TRT Afrika, noting that in the wild, the big cats enjoy five forms of freedom:
These include "selecting their mates, choosing to be in the prides they want, choosing to socialise in the way they deem right for them and also being able to learn skills from their peers in the pride," the conservationist explains, adding that leaving them to express their natural behaviors encompasses them all.
"So the moment you put them in that artificial setting, then all those natural behaviours get compromised."
South Africa has over 8,000 lions living in captivity, the largest captive lion population in the world, surpassing the country's wild lion population which is estimated to be 3,000.
"Of course, scientifically, you can breed the lions. If you put a male and a female in the same enclosure, they will mate. But the disadvantage is that those cubs will not be in a position to grow in the natural environment where they can learn all the wild instincts they need to lead a smooth life in the wild." Kabesiime reckons.
"For instance, it's difficult to teach lion cubs how to hunt, it is the mothers who teach the cubs how to hunt. So, in an enclosure, I wonder how one can teach lions to be effective hunters for antelopes, buffaloes and the entire range of animals that lions hunt."
Saving the 'king of the jungle'
"We are dealing with a very delicate situation," Kabisiime emphasises, stressing that lions are occupy a special ecological spot.
"They are predators and they sit at the apex of the food chain even above the human beings because lions can eat us."
In April, the South African government implemented a ministerial task team report recommending closure of breeding sites as pressure from conservationists mounted.
The South African cabinet decision, however, did not indicate a deadline for breeding to cease, a detail conservationists keenly await.
The report encouraged breeding facility owners to voluntarily leave the industry by euthanising or sterilising the animals or handing them over to the government to be released into the wild or moved to sanctuaries.
"Conservation organisations could reallocate funds and resources currently directed towards the captive-breeding industry to support genuine conservation efforts," said Fiona Miles, director of Four Paws, an animal welfare organisation in South Africa.
The communities surrounding wildlife reserves and national parks could see economic gains if tourism increases, Miles said.
