Like Nitro, I also dream of taking a traditional Safari someday, even though I know those opportunities are rapidly disappearing in today’s world. Game ranch hunting seems to be taking over and for many of us, myself included, it may be the only way we will be able to have the experience of finally hunting in Africa.

Now, with that being said, most if not all of us, I believe, are against the so called “Canned Hunts”. You know, the ones where an old circus lion or tiger or maybe one from some pathetic, road-side zoo are hauled to someplace out in the country, poked and prodded with broomsticks and electric cattle prods until they are driven into a frenzy, and then released…. Usually right In front of a pack of trained catch-dogs who set upon it immediately and hold it while some asshole shoots at it from the safety of the truck….

Those types of “hunts” make all hunters and the sport of hunting itself look bad.

However, when you are speaking of hunting a fenced property, well, I think that would depend on the actual situation. As I said, I’ve never hunted in Africa, but I understand that many of the so called “Game Ranches” in South Africa and other countries are tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of acres in size. 640 acres is a square mile, so we’re potentially taking about miles and miles of land, (depending of course on whether or not it is cross-fenced and how large the pastures are). In my home state of Texas, there are many large game ranches, most under high fence. Typically, the high fences are around the perimeter or around a defined section of the property only, so I would think it’s the same in Africa. From what I have read, you can track a lion for days before you get close enough for a shot.

But, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s been walking in a straight line the entire time….

True, no matter how big the property or pasture is, the animal is still confined within the boundaries of a fence. Even so, you’re still hunting a lion. Whether he was bred in “captivity” or not, he still has thousands of years of instinct buried within his DNA. And, whether he grew up in a cage or a fenced paddock, he still has claws and teeth and he knows how to use them. In essence, he’s still a wild animal.

For many years, Siegfried and Roy had an extremely popular stage show in Las Vegas where they used white lions and white tigers in their act. During a performance one day, one of their tigers, one that had been used in prior performances, attacked Roy Horn on stage. It grabbed him by the sleeve at first and then bit him in the neck and dragged him offstage. The attack severed his spine and caused massive blood loss and left Roy Horn disabled for the rest of his life. This was not a “wild” tiger. It was one that had been bred in captivity and had been “trained” and handled by people for years.

I remember there was a commercial for the Expedia travel site on American television recently that shows a little girl running around an airport in a tiger costume, growling and holding her hands up like the claws. Apparently, she and her father are taking a trip to a zoo to see a real tiger. They go into the big cat exhibit and the little girl, still in costume, cautiously creeps up to a glass wall as an adult tiger approaches from the other side. The scene ends with the little girl and her dad standing in front of the tiger, staring in wonder. It’s all meant to be very sweet.

Not long ago, I saw a similar video taken in one of the newer “Big Cat Experience” zoos. I can’t remember where I saw it for sure, but I’m thinking it was right here on Nitro Express Forums. Anyway, in this video, there is a little boy standing in front of the glass wall, but with his back to it. In the background behind him, there is a tiger (or maybe it was a lion) obviously watching the boy with great interest as it prepares to spring. All of a sudden, it rushes the child and slams into the glass, surprising the hell out of the kid. Luckily, the wall held. If I recall correctly, Peter Capstick wrote of a similar experience in a game park here in the USA where the animals are kept under high fence and you drive your own vehicle through the park. (I remember going to one called Lion Country Safari when I was a kid. A baboon stole one of the signal lights right off our truck!) You stay in the car with the windows up the whole time driving from paddock to paddock while you look at the animals. Anyway, Capstick wrote that a boy was walking outside one of the fenced areas when a lion charged him from cover and slammed into the fence. Again, luckily, the fence held. Had it not been for the glass wall in the first case, and the fence in the other, I’m certain both children would have been severely injured if not killed if the cats could have reached them.

So I guess my point is, bred in captivity, captive or not, a lion (or any big cat for that matter) is still a lion. A cornered animal is a dangerous animal and perhaps in a fenced situation, where the lion knows he can’t just run away to escape, he may be more inclined to fight. And, maybe, just maybe, the hunter might become the one who gets cornered….

J