On Friday Yummypets were very fortunate to be invited by The Rhinos in Africa Foundation to the Cape Town premier of Blood Lions. Blood Lions is a South African made documentary which places the spotlight on the canned lion hunting community.

Environmental journalist and safari operator, Ian Michler, and American hunter, Rick Swazey, go on a journey to expose these multi-million dollar predator breeding and canned lion hunting industries in South Africa.

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Currently there are about 200 farms and breeding facilities in South Africa, with approximately 7000 lions bred in captivity. Every day, at least two to three captive bred or tame lions are being killed in canned hunts. The term canned hunting has been downplayed by the authorities and professional hunting bodies and the term captive hunting has been introduced to steer away from the negative associations with canned hunting. No matter the terminology, these lions are bred for the bullet, to become the victims of trophy hunting.

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A part from trophy hunting revenue, the lion bone trade has become a popular source of revenue for breeders and farmers, as lion bones are the new alternative to tiger bones in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

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The Blood Lions team have worked tremendously hard on this film to expose the truth behind many of South Africa’s wildlife farms. Since its release, their campaign has gained significant progress, including the mission to be partners for change with various Ministries in the South African government and most importantly, Australia are now the first country to ban the importation of lion trophies into the country.

The Blood Lions' goal is to bring an end to canned hunting and the exploitative breeding of lions and other predators on farms across South Africa. It is a call to action and there are many ways to get involved and be the voice for the voiceless.

Watch the movie, talk about what is going on and act now!

Twitter Handle: @Blood_Lions #BLOODLIONS

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