I received the Press Release set out below directly from PHASA on Friday last week:
PHASA President Calls for a Review of Lion Hunting
Pretoria, 24 July 2015 – Hermann Meyeridricks, president of the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (PHASA), is asking the hunting association to reconsider its position on lion hunting.
In a letter emailed to PHASA members today, Meyeridricks says that the campaign against trophy hunting has intensified around the canned or captive-bred lion hunting issue since its current policy on lion hunting was adopted at its AGM in November 2013.
“We took the view that our position was a stepping-stone to clean up the captive-bred lion hunting industry and made it clear that it was certainly not our final word on the hunting of lions,” he says.
“From my dealings with the media and the community, it has become clear to me that those against the hunting of lions bred in captivity are no longer just a small if vociferous group of animal-rights activists. Broader society is no longer neutral on this question and the tide of public opinion is turning strongly against this form of hunting, however it is termed. Even within our own ranks, as well as in the hunting fraternity as a whole, respected voices are speaking out publicly against it.”
Meyeridricks says that with some airlines and shipping lines refusing to transport hunting trophies, PHASA has to face the fact that the lion issue is putting at risk not only the reputation of professional hunting in SA but its very survival.
“PHASA’s current policy on the issue is, broadly the speaking, that it recognizes the legality of and demand for captive-bred lion hunting, and is working with the predator breeders and government to improve its standards and conditions to a generally acceptable level. We have made little demonstrable progress on this front,” he says.
“Against this background, I have come to believe that, as it stands, our position on lion hunting is no longer tenable. The matter will be on the agenda again for our next annual general meeting and I appeal to you to give it your serious consideration, so that together we can deliver a policy that is defensible in the court of public opinion,” he says in the letter.
I have the following comments to make on this sad announcement:
- PHASA proposes to reconsider their “position on lion hunting”? What hunting? There is no hunting involved in canned or put-and-take killing. PHASA has supported the predator breeders’ position for the last 20 months that a captive-bred lion, released into an enclosure of 1 000 hectares, a week before it is due to be killed, constituted fair chase hunting despite the fact that during this time it has alienated organisations such as the SA Wildlife College, the Nordic Safari Club, CIC and many if not most genuine amateur hunters. I mean, ask yourself one simple question – would you want to hunt with a person who supports this disgusting practice in the name of hunting?
- The opposition to canned and put-and-take killings of wildlife, let alone lions, has never been based on the views of a few animal rightists although PHASA has given them wonderful ammunition to use against genuine hunters. Broader society has never been neutral on the question but has opposed it from the very beginning. Did the overwhelming response to the Cook TV documentary of the first exposure of canned lion killing guided by Sandy MacDonald not ring any bells all those years ago? PHASA and its leadership have completely misjudged the opposition to these disgusting practices blinded, as I believe they were, by the short sighted attraction of making easy money.
- After 20 months I am afraid this is all too little too late. The damage has been done and the reputation of PHASA, such as it was, is in tatters. The best that can be hoped for is that a brand new, ethical professional hunting association is formed under the banner (possibly) of SAMPEO, the group of eight senior professional hunters who disassociated themselves from the PHASA stance on canned lion killing right from the start. I would urge people to visit their web site – www. sampeo.co.za and read their bi-monthly column in African Outfitter. If people are looking for professional hunters to guide them, they can make no better decision than to start with these men.
- PHASA’s Press Release is disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst. I have no recollection of PHASA ever indicating that their stance was a “stepping-stone” aimed at improving “standards and conditions to a generally acceptable level”. I do know that the SA Wildlife College asked PHASA to conduct a scientific investigation into whether a captive-bred lion in such a case was able to feed itself, procreate naturally and escape its predators. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the college is still waiting for the results of the study.
- PHASA’s support of canned lion killing has not only put its reputation at risk but, in my opinion, has ruined it and done untold damage to our country’s reputation as conservationists and a premier hunting destination as can be seen by the material reduction in overseas hunts – down some 16% or 1 500 hunts in 2013, the last year for which accurate statistics are available.
- I have also taken note of the almost contemporaneous resignation of PHASA’s CEO, Kitshof, and her appointment as CEO of Wildlife Ranching of South Africa, which houses those who intensively breed and domesticate wildlife to produce animals with exaggerated horn lengths and other unnatural colour variants and hybrids. Is this a question of rats leaving the sinking ship or is it mere coincidence? Can we expect the same kind of management style and propaganda from WRSA now as has been forthcoming from PHASA in the past and will the results be the same i.e. after untold damage has been done to WRSA and the country, will they also realise that the “court of public opinion” is totally opposed to these practices, reverse their stance and expel the small minority of their members that are destroying the well-deserved reputation of the extensive game rancher members that have been at the heart of the quiet conservation revolution that has swept across this country for the last 60 years or so for the benefit of so many people while creating opportunities for all?
Phillip Loughlin
Interesting stuff. I never thought I was well-educated on this particular issue, but I thought I had some limited insight. Still, I didn’t realize how much was going on within the industry. If nothing else, this Cecil the Lion thing has provided a great opportunity for those of us who are interested to educate ourselves.
Brian Joubert
Peter, you have been a postive influence on (African) hunting and a giant in the promotion of ethical, scholarly and passionate hunting-conservation for more years than I can remember. I think that as a community we owe you a great depth of gratitude.
Thank you so much for the very kind words, Brian. I am touched and humbled in almost equal measure by your words. I hope and trust I can live up to them.
Kind regards,
Peter.
Holger Krogsgaard Jensen
It’s about time that PHASA put ethics before greed, but hard to believe that will be honest in dealing with this issue, as they’ve kept their own members in the dark about the complaints received from organisations like Nordic Safari Club and CIC. They’re bound to cook up some vague set of “ethic guidelines” that will once again try to hide the fact that this type of shooting is not hunting at all.
Cattle are fattened up in Feed lots and killed.
Doesn’t seem to be much of an outcry about that.
No amount of theory about one animal over another can be viable if we all accept that all organisms represent sentient beings.
I would be interested to hear people’s viewpoints about this subject.
Brian Joubert
Peter, you have been a postive influence on (African) hunting and a giant in the promotion of ethical, scholarly and passionate hunting-conservation for more years than I can remember. I think that as a community we owe you a great depth of gratitude.
Phillip Loughlin
Interesting stuff. I never thought I was well-educated on this particular issue, but I thought I had some limited insight. Still, I didn’t realize how much was going on within the industry. If nothing else, this Cecil the Lion thing has provided a great opportunity for those of us who are interested to educate ourselves.
I am a PHASA member. I like the organization. I like the people. Cage bred Lion Hunting stands Juxtaposed to our ORGANISATIONS principles. AKA ‘conservation through utilization’
There is no conservation ethic to cage bred Lion hunting. Morally it remains indefensible
I have witnessed this kind of hunting on two occasions having been a ‘Back-up PH’ (not sure why a back-up PH was needed since the Cats were so stoned they couldn’t move)
The first time I acted as a Back-up I was Naive and new to the industry. The second time I did it was to confirm my opposition to it.
On both occasions I refused payment. After the second hunt we had a few drinks with the Clients and the Farm owner. I got into a fairly heated discussion with him about exactly how the practice was benefitting conservation. He alluded to the fact that it had no benefit but he did make the point that as soon as one kind of hunting (I understand it’s not hunting as Mr Flack correctly points out) is outlawed it can create a domino effect for other types of hunting. That was a good point all the same.
PHASA remains a great organization and I have no intention of giving them any kind of ultimatum.
They understand the shortfalls and I’m convinced they will do the right thing. As a pro- hunter I have choices. I choose to keep far away from anything to do with Cage bred Lion hunting.
John Weavind
I can see your negative publicity is still going on and you still did not answer my questions I asked previously. It seems you do not live with reality. So I cannot comment on your negative comments on South Africa, this country is very close to my hart.
Dear Mr Marais,
Thank you for your two comments set out below:
– So there are still +/- 9500 Games Ranches that do not conduct this “in breeding ” practices. When are we going to hear something positive on these ranches. All Peters comments are total negative on the hole hunting industry in South Africa and is causing lots of negative economic trends in South Africa. There are still some good natural hunting in this country.
– I can see your negative publicity is still going on and you still did not answer my questions I asked previously. It seems you do not live with reality. So I cannot comment on your negative comments on South Africa, this country is very close to my hart.
In the first you asked, “When are we going to hear something positive on these ranches.” I assumed by your comments that you were a regular reader of my blog and referred specifically to extensive game ranching in the very next one entitled, PHASA President Calls for Review of Lion Hunting, where I made the following statement about “the well-deserved reputation of the extensive game rancher members that have been at the heart of the quiet conservation revolution that has swept across this country for the last 60 years or so for the benefit of so many people while creating opportunities for all?
This view is one I have expressed repeatedly in print and in documentaries. In the latter case, I devoted some six years and a substantial amount of my own money to produce The South African Conservation Success Story, which tells the story of the hugely positive role played by extensive game ranches in conservation in our country. In 2012 it won the Environmental Prize awarded by the prestigious European body, CIC – The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation. Preceding this, I produced Flack Hunts South Africa, which has sold over 3 000 copies, primarily to overseas hunters, to encourage them to come to South Africa to hunt and, as such, I agree with you that there is a lot of good, free range, fair chase hunting available in South Africa. It is a small, irresponsible minority that give the country a bad name but, to do and say nothing about those that do this, is only to encourage them and others to do more of the same. As someone much better and more erudite than me said. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
I am flattered that you think it is my comments that “is causing lots of negative trends in South Africa” as opposed to our government or the canned and put-and-take killings or the intensive breeding of wildlife to produce exaggerated horn lengths and unnatural colour variants and hybrids but I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this point. I would point out, however, that no good has ever come from attempting to shoot the messenger. In this regard, you may also wish to read R.W. Johnson’s recently published book, How Long Can South Africa Survive, the Looming Crisis.
Kind regards,
Peter
Very interesting reading. For close to 30 years I’ve been involved in both the formal and informal conservation & wildlife sectors throughout Africa. My work has often crossed paths with the hunting industry, often with the underbelly and darker side of this industry. I really feel very sorry for the few remaining ethical hunters who had to bear the brunt, often ‘grouped’ alongside their foes. The wider public doesn’t give a damn who is right or wrong. The death of ‘Cecil’ is the final nail in the coffin. Graham has a massive responsibility to try and pull this ‘ethical wagon’ of his through the drift. I wish him all the best, its high time!
Regards,
Peter Scott
Graham Jones
Hi Peter
Thank you for your current newsletter and blog and i agree with your sentiments regarding how this lion issue was handled.
You can’t say we didn’t warn them… as far as I’m concerned very weak leadership! The way they treated us was embarrassing to say the least. All for the sake of ” crowd pleasing “!!
At this stage it looks like we are going to go ahead with launching SAMPEO as an association to try and save our industry and livelihoods ! TO BE CONFIRMED .
On behalf of SAMPEO I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting us and our endeavor to protect our beloved sport and profession!
Kind regards
Graham
You’re welcome Graham. I wish you all success should you and the rest of your group try to develop SAMPEO into an ‘Unashamedly Ethical’ professional hunting association similar to the business version developed by Graham Power. My word, how desperately we need something like this. I will support you and your group wherever I can in these endeavours.
Kind regards,
Peter
I think stopping canned lion hunting is a good idea, and especially not entering them in a record book of any kind. If someone wants to shoot one for the skin go ahead but don’t consider it a hunting trophy.
Thank you also for your comment on canned killing which I will have posted on my blog today. I have campaigned against this for years and watched the terrible damage these people have done to hunting. And they know it is wrong. When have you ever heard someone who has killed a canned lion tell it like it is? No, they always fabricate some death defying tale. I never forget reading in the SCI magazine, Safari, about this man who killed a canned lioness in a paddock in the Free State describing in breathless prose how the safety of his hunting party depended on the accuracy of his next shot. Really? I wrote to the editor, Comus, to explain there was no fair chase lion hunting in the Free State of South Africa where the hunt took place but never received the courtesy of a reply. In fact, he carried two more canned lion killing stories in the next two issues. People like him must carry a fair share of the blame for not opposing this disgusting practice and it is the reason I stopped submitting stories to Safari and do not attend their convention even if I remain a life member. If I knew how to cancel a life membership I would. I used to think that the original three pillars for which SCI stood were so right and important. Now I think they do more harm than good.
Donald Goldfain
Hello Peter,
Thanks for including me in your emails.
I thought that this diagram sums up the issue on perspective well.
Kind regards,
Donald Goldfain
This totally explains how our perspective determines what we see as “true.”
Here’s to understanding that what is true for me and what is true for you are not different realities, but an opportunity for us to have a conversation and explore where we are both human. -DM
Some of us have warned for years that some day the paw-paw is going to strike the fan. Yes, what a pity indeed that PHASA had to call for a review of their policy on captive-bred lion hunting. Our hunting industry’s name and reputation is indeed in tatters. I am also hugely disappointed in Adri’s recent comments (Landbouweekblad 31 July). What she said there is ohhh so WRSA. Will she now be dancing to their tunes or will she bring change? Do you dare to bite the hand that feeds you?
Sorry, just to be clear, I am talking about finding a way to farm lions in such a way that they are still classified as wild to be released onto game rich, lion free hunting concessions to establish viable populations of HUNTABLE lions that are actually wild.
I am obviously totally opposed to canned lion hunting, and the idea of interbreeding species or “rare”or unusual trophies scares me quite a bit (above pics), however, if we put all of the unpleasantness, and bureaucracy to one side momentarily, I believe that there is a fundamental issue that will HAVE to be addressed at some stage.
If you listen to all the underlying comment, and talk from the bigger outfitters, and professional hunters, and sometimes true, often not misguided waffle from anti hunting groups, the state of wild huntable lions is getting progressively poorer, in some instances, I find this difficult to believe, but in other more pressurized concession areas, not. We all know that the natural habitat of game in Africa as a whole is shrinking on a daily basis, and that hunters, and some game farmers (in this group I include private game reserves), and “government reserves” are the only people that are actually contributing to the conservation of all African game. However, if you look at it as a whole, all of the above mentioned parties are earning a living from the game animals themselves through tourism as the greater heading. I do not believe that the need to hunt lions will ever go away as new generations of hunters are born all the time, however, should the effort and passion not be being directed at finding a happy medium as to the method of farming lions (ie zero human contact), and possibly reintroducing them in concession areas instead of camps, yes the activists will throw their hands in the air about genetic diversity etc etc, but surely this will relieve the pressure on the already pressured wild populations of lion (if that information is in fact true). We all know that the number of captured bred lions is too high, and we all know that it is an industry (as much as we don’t like it) that probably won’t go away, instead of fighting about it, making seedy unfocused films about it, and it being spread over social media and blackening the name, and image of ethical hunters (you all know we get tarred with the same brush “you hunters are all the same”), maybe that same effort, should be put into viable, ethical ways of tweaking the farming methods to turn it into a ETHICAL SUSTAINABLE industry that can somehow fall in line with everybody’s idea of what lion hunting should be?
Sorry for the tome, but I really do believe that there must be a workable solution to a very ugly problem.
Regards
Howard.
What you say is possible.
What’s needed is to get Game farmers to
1) remove fences between farms so as to create large areas
2) you will have to convince them not to have expensive animals like Sable or Roan on those reserves
3) you will have to take Lions out of the wild for these reserves and no interbreeding with ‘human brought up Lions’ that will just infect the wild lions with inferior genetics which will kill all the Lions if environmental conditions become harsh.
It’s difficult but can be done.
Thank you for your comments, John.
As regards PHASA, we will have to wait and see but clearly the organisation is in a state of flux. If the past is anything to go by, then you are more optimistic about their future than I am. In my opinion, it would take a road-to-Damascus-type of conversion but, if there are enough like-minded people like you amongst the membership then there is hope. The question must be asked, however, if there are, where were they when the resolutions supporting the canned killing of captive bred lions were passed?
Kind regards,
Peter.
Sven-Erik Jansson
Dear Peter, first off, I really like your blog, gives always a good perspective on things. Keep it up!
Your opinion on today’s topic was dead on. When I now look at the situation (although I have never been really interested in lion hunting in RSA) I can not help wonder, how the heck could it develop into such a bad situation as we have today?? Are we (as potential visiting hunters) to blame because we did not protest in time?? Which in turn poses the next question, should we have any say in what type of hunts we want? If so. How? Or should we, as has happened in this case, let the market forces dictate the outcome by not showing up if we don’t like the development?
You may be too busy to answer any question, but I could not resist asking….
All the best
Sven-Erik Jansson
Edmonton, Canada
I think voting with your feet is the last resort of the disenfranchised but there is nothing wrong with making your voice and opposition heard if you can, wherever and whenever you can. But you raise an interesting point – who is more to blame, the person who demands a bribe or the one who pays it? The one who offers these disgusting canned kills or the ones who buy them? The short answer is both but, unfortunately, it is a little like prostitution where, for the most part, it is the offeror who receives most of the opprobrium and force of the law. Maybe more should be done to expose the offeree, although when I have tried to do this with the magazines who have published accounts of these canned killings, always under the guides of a fair chase hunt – both the SCI and Dallas Safari Club magazines in recent times – not one has been prepared to óut’ the offeree. I hope to see you in Dallas in January.
Kindest regards,
Peter.
Hi Peter
Wow, this is a tough one! At the outset, let me be transparent and disclose that I know Herman. While not well, I have enjoyed his company on occasion. However, and I do not envy Hermans role at PHASA, I do think that he may be attempting to take a principled stand following the “dilly dallying” evidenced from PHASA in the recent past on the canned lion issue. As he is an attorney, I would like to think that he fully understands the seriousness of public opinion, the law and its legal process as well as trying to balance a very sensitive ethical conundrum between PHASA members, the breeding community and, simply, the significant economic benefit hunting in general brings to our Nation.
I am a keen amateur hunter, collector and simple conservationist with a straight forward attitude to things in general. There is strong evidence that our wildlife heritage has been recovering since the early 1900’s with good results in rhino re-population, black wildebeest, sable, lion and other creatures of the veld which has also led to a significant industry we see today in the many game ranchers, PH’s, outfitters etc. I would like to think that the passion and commitment with which the hunters and conservationists of old set about reclaiming our wildlife heritage was based on old fashioned values of doing the right thing and less about the economic benefit, which has sadly crept into our modern day mantra. Maybe its time that we return to these values and re-set them into our modern world.
So, and in this vain, on the call from PHASA for comments on this issue, I have this to say.
1. A principled stand needs to be made, recognizing that not everyone will be in agreement, but that canned (read captive bred) lion hunting in SA should be stopped forthwith and a full industry and governmental scientific review be undertaken on the ethical rules of lion hunting in SA that must include verifiable evidence that lions released into the veld are able to fend for themselves, breed naturally and survive. If the finds are inconclusive or marginal in any remote way, then captive bred lion hunting must be stopped all together.
2. PHASA to seriously consider re-constituting itself and setting a fresh protocol in “Vision and Values” that has as its cornerstone ethics, honoring the legacy of those who worked tirelessly to conserve our natural heritage and, simply, doing the right thing amongst may others.
I know that this debate still has a considerable road to travel but my belief is that there needs to be a spirit of collaboration and not combat when dealing with this sensitive issue. Yes, hard decisions will need to be made and a few unhappy folk will remain, but at some point soon a line needs to be drawn in the sand on this issue ( and, the ridiculousness of the cross breeding/colour variant madness!) so that we can reclaim our dignity and respect in the eyes of the public, international community and those hunters and sportsmen (foreign and domestic) who are skeptical of the SA hunting fraternity and heritage.
I sincerely hope that I have added something positive and constructive to this debate and wait with eager anticipation for some sanity to prevail.
With my Salaams,
Bertie
Melorani
I don`t know why they couldn`t see it coming. It is the right move but sadly PHASA will have lost much credibility as it did not voluntary take this position to start with, it has been forced.
At least SAMPEO is coming through ok and getting a lot of attention…..even from Ian Michler!!!
Glenn O. Baker
Dear Pete,
Thanks for sending this information. Hopefully we will see the end to this insane killing of pets. There in our opinion is truly something very wrong with this disgusting practice. Fair chase is something these people do not understand and nearly all lack the courage to hunt these animals properly. All they can do is attack us for trying to stop this practice.
Christa and I along with many many others are so thankful that you and others like you Pete are eloquent enough to put our feelings out there.
I have never forgotten my English Professor once telling me go back and remember “you must paint a graphic word picture”. It seems that every time you put pen to paper Pete it becomes a Rembrandt!
Hope you both are well, we think of you both often.
God Bless,
Christa & Glenn
Afternoon, Glenn.
Thanks for the comments and kind remarks. I sincerely appreciate your support. The bastards are on the run and we must keep on pursuing them. Not that it gives me any pleasure when I see the damage they have done to our passion and conservation.
Kindest regards,
Peter
I cannot believe that it’s taken this long for people in this industry to see that public opinion is more powerful than any other force that can close the whole hunting industry. The problem lies with the personal ethics of each and every hunter and what will please his ego. It is amazing what lengths people will go to, to impress their friends on their achievements of obtaining trophy animals; don’t they realise that it was the guides and the hunters that put them in a position to shoot that trophy; it wasn’t their skills and ability. I still believe that most hunters show total respect for wildlife and practice ethical hunting which is the foundation of conservation.
Our local hunting associations in SA are afraid to define ethical hunting. Their main priority is maintaining and growing membership numbers. If the larger associations were to define ethical hunting in the context of fair chase then they would be alienating too many members. Instead, they put forward fuzzy definitions where just about anything goes, provided that the hunter minds his manners and the animal is killed cleanly. Whether it is killed cleanly from a vehicle, hide-over-water/food, from a voorsit position after having the animal driven toward the shooter, or killed in a small camp does not seem to matter. Nor does it seem to matter, for some Associations, whether the animal was half tame, whether it was a canned hunt, or whether the animal was bred for specific traits. I believe that there are many ethical hunters who are crying out for an hunting association based on fair chase ethical hunting principles. Perhaps it is too little too late from PHASA. Perhaps a step in the right direction?