The practice of so-called “canned” hunts, where hunters pay
upwards of $20,000 to target African lions in huge, fenced-in areas, could be
doomed thanks to the U.S. government’s move in December to protect the animals
under the Endangered Species Act.
That’s because Americans make up a huge majority of the
clientele participating in canned hunts—where lions are essentially bred for
the purpose of hunting—according to the Humane Society of the United States.
In new data obtained from the Convention on International
Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) Database, the Humane Society found that a
total of 719 African lions were imported to the U.S. in 2014, 620 of which came
from South Africa—the epicenter of captive lion hunts.
In total, 429 lions were killed in South Africa’s canned
hunts in 2014, and 363 of those lions were hunted by Americans—about 85 percent
of the total.
To read more on this story, click here: New U.S.Protections Could Crush ‘Canned’ Lion Hunting
