christabir

On Friday, October 23 CBS is showing an episode of The Amazing Race where they are walking with lions in Zambia. It is being advertised heavily. They should be discouraging this practice, not marketing it! Every one of those lions will be used in canned hunting when they are no longer useful as a prop. I called and emailed both CBS and The Amazing Race to complain and removed it from my DVR recordings and will not watch it. I'm so disappointed in their decision to air this.

If you want to voice your concerns, Google contact CBS and/or The Amazing Race.

amyb

This was discussed on the AR thread where I voiced the same concern. Until I see the episode though, and confirm that it is indeed a breeding facility for canned hunting, I'm withholding judgment. Walking safaris and non-breeding rehab sanctuaries are both still allowed there, and that's what I'm hoping it is. We've no confirmation that it's a breeding facility for canned hunting yet. While it's unlikely they just came upon wild lions like that on a walking safari, it's a possibility. I'm holding my breath until tomorrow night.

But FWIW, I recently read that Zambian breeding facilities have agreed to stop by 2016 the "walk with lions" programs if they have not been discontinued already. So what was legal when AR was filmed may not be now or won't be shortly.

KathBC

I was also a bit horrified when ads for this episode came on and really hope the "walk with lions" is not connected to canned hunting.

AR has been one of my favourite shows for many years and I'll be devastated if they didn't do their homework on this one.

christabir

Sorry KathBC - all "walk with lions" are connected to canned hunting. It's a straight line connection. "Walk with lions" equals dead lions.

amyb - when the contestants go to Zambia, they say Africa. No one makes a distinction between Zambia, where thankfully canned hunting has been banned (legally, not in reality), from the many countries that still allow it.

I'm so disappointed. They should have cut the segment. Instead they are marketing "walking with the king of the jungle". They have already propped up the industry.

amyb

Until we see where it is, I don't think we should rush to judgment. I'll be all over Phil when he's live tweeting tomorrow night if it is a breeding faiclity, but I'm not calling it until I actually SEE it, which none of us have yet. You've only seen the trailer.

christabir

amyb - so you think they came across wild lions and they take a stroll with them?

The trailer shows people walking with lions on a dirt path. What else must I see? It's lions that will go to canned hunting facilities - just like every other lion that used in walks. It's disgusting. I won't be seeing the episode and I will continue to speak out to discourage people from doing any animal interaction activities. It is a death sentence for the animals.

kellyee21

Thanks for bringing that up christabir. I have tweeted to @Blood_Lions and @GlobalMarchLion about this, hopefully they will see it and speak out as well.

christabir

Thanks kellyee21. The more the better! Let us know if there's a response or action.

amyb

If it turns out to be a sanctuary where injured/wounded animals (my work mate visited one) are recovering (and won't be returned to the wild) you'll look pretty foolish. I'll make my judgment when I actually SEE it.

NoFlyZone

Is it safe to assume that everyone is also outraged at the black bear hunt in Florida, which is to start tomorrow?

christabir

amyb - I won't feel foolish at all. They should still never be used as props - and many of those "sanctuary's" are anything but. In addition, they are marketing a practice that uses animals for canned hunts and should be banned everywhere - but it's not. If they are donating to a sanctuary, great. But they should not put other animals in danger in the process.

NoFlyZone - instead of lashing out, just give us the information. This is the Africa/Middle East forum, not US. You are welcome to share the information, but to assume no outrage over Florida, Maine (where baiting is still allowed) or NJ bear hunts is unwarranted. It's just not the place I would have started a thread about American wildlife. I'm also outraged about wolf extermination, rhino and elephant poaching and world poverty. You can't lump everything together.

kellyee21

amyb, do you have the name of the place where your work mate visited? I have never heard of a true rehabilitation project that allows you to walk with lions. Why would they need people to do that? Sorry I am not being snarky or trying to attack you. Getting the info out about canned lion hunting is one of my passions and I do a lot of research about this and I have truely never come across anything positive about walking with lions. And even if it exists, even the previews are doing a lot of damage as many people will just see that and decide they want to do it too. A simple search will get them a ton of places that allow this and off they go, supporting the canned hunting industry. So so many people think that just because an activity exists and is legal that it is ok to do that. Especially when it comes to animals. Most people just love animals and are thrilled to get a chance to be as close as possible to them, never even thinking about the bigger picture. I live in South Africa and you would not believe how many people don't understand that canned hunting is happening right here in their own country. It is easy for me to see how people in far away places are going to be easily swayed by seeing activites such as this on a TV show.

BostonHarbor

Christabir, The "lion walk" operation that Amazing race is using is stopping lion walks in November. They admit that *not one lion has ever been placed back in the wild* and that they have sold older animals for trophy hunting.

So, you are 100% right on your assessment of this operation. They are in it only for the money and not for the animals.

Amazing Race is using "Lion Encounter Zambia" and this is the exact park the story below describes.

Here is the story: "Can Lions on a Leash Help Save Endangered Big Cats?"

A snippet: Earlier this month, Lion Encounter Zambia announced that it has “agreed” to suspend its “lion walk” activities beginning in November 2015, a move which is being celebrated by wildlife activists in light of growing publicity linking similar activities to unethical lion breeders in the wider region, particularly in South Africa.

......perhaps most importantly, many observers draw attention to the fact that 10 years since its inception, ALERT has failed to rehabilitate a single one of its lions into the wild from any of its facilities.


http://www.earthisland.org/journal/i...ered_big_cats/

christabir

Thanks BostonHarbor. I didn't watch it - I didn't want to give them my advertising money. There's no way an animal that walks with people will ever be able to survive in the wild. As much as I love S Africa, they still do some awful things - including allowing rhino hunts during this poaching crisis and canned hunting. The U.S. has some horrible practices as well.

I am so disappointed that CBS showed this segment, especially after learning how awful it is. The whole show, according to what I've read, had too many animal interactions. There is just no excuse. Did they include a disclaimer saying that we should not participate in these activities?

Few, except people who have been there, make any distinction between Zambia, S Africa or Africa. They put so many animals in danger tonight.

kelley - thanks for the added info. Many (I'd say most, but I'll get too much blowback) Americans have no idea that Africa is a continent and S Africa is a country. Most don't know that we are a huge reason why elephants and rhino are dying every day because we are the second largest consumers of ivory and horn. They only blame the Chinese and Vietnam. Thanks for your work.

amyb

Kellee, she said it was Amoya (sp?) Sanctuary?

BostonHarbor, there is no evidence that the ALERT facilities like Lion Encounter sold cats to canned hunters. The article you post even says that. I follow ALERT on FB and have been following their attempts to back out of this practice with great interest but there is NO evidence that they sold for profit to trophy hunters, including the facility AR went to. While I don't agree with exploiting animals at any level, we need to be careful about who we accuse of what. The one facility your article mentions by name as having done so is Lion Park, which is not where AR went.

I live Tweeted Phil and the Amazing Race_CBS last night during the show and oddly Phil went completely silent on anything related to the lions. He commented on everything else that happened during the episode but not that. I found that telling.

I have volunteered at a breeding facility for pandas in China, where they actually are successfully releasing pandas into the wild, but only those that have never been in contact with humans in any way shape or form. I'm well aware of how captive born-wild release is meant to work. I can only hope that the latest big news stories continue to educate and change people's minds.

BostonHarbor

christabir, based on your post, I watched "Blood Lions" last night on Comcast "on-demand" It's an anti-captive breeding documentary that is playing on MSNBC. You may have already seen it, and some parts are very hard to watch, but here is the webpage for it. http://www.bloodlions.org

Like I said above it is free "on demand" if you look at "TV Networks-->MSNBC--documentary"

Pretty awful stuff. The sub heading is: "Bred for the bullet". So awful that there are people who will just shoot animals practically in a cage. Even the "real" hunting operations find captive breeders despicable. How's that for being in the most terrible place on earth. These operations have a catalogue. You choose the lion you want to kill and they release it, knowing where it is, they put bait by a tree and then you kill a lion who is eating the bait. There should be a very special place in hell for these people.

KathBC

Have been trying to find "Blood Lions" online without much success and don't have comcast.

Surprised it hasn't been run again on MSNBC.

christabir

BH - I couldn't watch it. The commercials made my blood boil. I can't understand the thinking of people who think this is fun. Your "shots" are much better. "Take only pictures, leave only footprints".

I did a rhino conservation project last year and get regular updates on that reserve's successes and failures. 11 rhinos killed - and a few with horns intact! - since last June when we were there on a reserve that has full time staff and helicopters available 24/7 to protect them. It's 30,000 hectares (big) but they can't protect them. Another one has a bullet in her brain - they are trying to keep her alive by keeping her in a large boma and feeding her. They named her Lucky and if you visit you might be able to see her. She knows vehicles mean food (and she can't see well) so she rubs up against the trucks looking for food. It breaks my heart, but at least they are doing what they can for her. They had to euthanize one just last week, horn intact, with a shattered shoulder from a poacher's bullet.

Unfortunately we all like to blame emerging nations with their growing middle classes. The U.S. must change its laws and enforcement to protect them - we are high on the list (second or third for all) for consumers of ivory, horn and animal heads. (Eww). Whatever we are doing isn't helping.

Animals get bought/sold/auctioned all the time - it's a regular business in Africa. It saddens me that so many are sold for sport.

KathBC - do you have any on demand service? You should be able to find it there as BH said. There is a bloodlions website - I'll see if I can find something for you. It did run last weekend on msnbc, but it was in the middle of the prison shows over the weekend, so I didn't really notice. Scroll through the listings next weekend - it might be on, but I bet the ratings were awful so they might not show it again.

I'm really surprised after the "Cecil outrage" that this didn't get more hype. We have very short attention spans.