The High Court in South Africa has just ruled that the hunting of canned lions can no longer take place. Canned lions in this court decision are clasified as being captive bred lions. An appeal will be lodged against the court decision on Friday, June 19th, 2009. If the appeal is lost it will effectively mean that the future of 4,000+ lions will be jeopardy. Owners of these lions will most definitely have to get rid of these lions as the cost of upkeep is just too high if no income can be generated from these lions. The will probably have to be killed as nobody will take on these lions. The cost of the upkeep of a lion can amount to as much as 20,000USD in a 5 year period.
For now the hunting of captive bred lions will continue in South Africa. But it could be stopped completely in the near future. In that scenario the pressure on wild populations will most definitely increase, and many hunters who wishes to hunt lion might be deprived of doing so.
