Matt,

As you say, they're not all shot in tiny cages, (although some are) but at the very best, they're very habituated to people and vehicles and therefore their actions and reactions are nothing like a truly wild Lion........ not necessarily less dangerous, and it might be argued they're more dangerous because of that habituation........ but not wild.

At the worst, and believe me, there are far more at this end of the scale, they're reared in pens and then translocated into a new and fenced area (usually not particularly large) just before being shot. Tranquilising drugs are also not at all uncommon.

You ask why they didn't put a minimum size on the area..... they did and they also put a minimum time period where they should be self sustaining. The Lion farmers then said this would make Lion farming unsustainable because the Lions would act as Lions and eat their game. Well, that's what Lion do, ao I don't understand their objection.

Frankly, I personally believe that if we allow canned Lion hunting to continue, the antis will sooner or later use it as a weapon against us in an attempt to stop ALL Lion hunting throughout Africa and possibly ALL African hunting completely. As I see it, the practice is completely indefensible, unethical, immoral and has nothing to do with true hunting and if we don't police ourselves by getting rid of the bad apples, then someone else is gonna step in and do it for us....... and if they do, they won't be pro hunting and they won't act in our best interest.

If something is wrong, it's wrong, no matter how much money someone is making out of it, it's still wrong....... and if something is wrong, it ain't right.

I'm getting on in years, and am already into semi retirement from the hunting field, so it probably won't affect me much either way, but personally, I'd much rather see ALL Lion hunting in SA completely than see the above happen.

I'll add that you wouldn't believe the number of hunters who have the wool pulled over their eyes when it comes to this practice and believe they've hunted a wild Lion. The vast majority of these guys have no idea of how it truly happens. It's also not entirely restricted to SA alone and if someone wants to be sure of hunting a truly wild Lion, the only way to do that is hunt in a true wilderness area with a reputable company and accept that success isn't guaranteed and it ain't gonna be cheap. That might be unfortunate, but it is the cold hard truth of the matter.

In case anyone isn't sure what side of the fence I'm on with this, I bloody hate it.