Walking with Lions
 

There have been a number of rising concerns over the ALERT program. To this end, an open letter has been written to various people said to support the project and also those involved. It aims to clear up any potential misunderstandings and clarify the all aspects of the program that may have come under criticism. An example of this may be the backing of the WWF, which on closer inspection does not support the conservation aspects of the program, just the treatment of the lions under the care of ALERT.

To download and read a copy for yourself, please go to the following the link:

http://safaritalk.net/index.php?show...0&start=40

For those interested in conservation, it is another forum, to which David is a contributor, where you can share your views.

To add to this, the ALERT project, is the African Lion & Environmental Research Trust. They are the conservation charity, trying to breed Lions to restock national parks.

As part of this process or reintroduction, lions they bred are also used to conduct Lion walks and other such activities at Antelope Park and Victoria Falls. They all hand reared and then sent through a four stage process. The offspring from the 4th stage are then it is argueed, able to be release into the wild.

They are many conflicting debates regarding this project. With many conservationists and ecologists claiming it has little conservation value. If you read through the whole thread, you may get a better understanding.

For those that are wondering, ALERT does not receive any direct funding from the walks. Money is paid to its sister commercial organisation, Lion ecounter, who then give a proportion to ALERT to help with their project.

apologies for the typos

never ever support LION WALKS or elephant back safaris or VET safaris.
the more demand the more lion cubs, elephant calves or darztng is the result!
breeding lions in captivity for captivity is as immoral as catching elephant calves in order to train them for EBS. vet safaris do more darting then necessary when demand is on the increase!
so do yourselves a favour and just stick with the wildlife!

Here's a link to a good thread on the subject.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35095379