The exploitation of big cats in South Africa continues to grow and includes not only indigenous species such as lions and leopards, but also exotic species like tigers and jaguars.
There are over 300 big cat breeding farms across South Africa. And it is estimated there are 10,000-12,000 lions kept in captivity across the country. This is three times higher than the number of wild lions left in South Africa.
Conditions in cat breeding farms are horrendous and unnatural. Females are forced to produce 2-3 litters per year, many more than they would in the wild. Separated at birth from their mothers, cubs are used for petting, photos, and trophy hunting, which is highly traumatic. Once they are too big to interact with humans, in addition to getting killed in the trophy hunting business, live big cats and their parts are frequently sold to Asian markets for use in traditional medicine or for luxury items.
We are campaigning to stop the farming of all big cats and to ban all commercial trade of big cats and their body parts from, within and to South Africa, but we need your help.
Please add your name to our petition now to save big cats!
