What eats a lion?

Humans eat more lion body parts than any predator of the lion. I am going to take an odd approach in answering this question. I know people want to know which animals eat lions and I suppose there are referring to lion cubs being attacked by hyenas and perhaps leopards. The lion cub is vulnerable to predators, there is no question about it. But the adult lion in Africa has no predators and there is little chance that they'll be eaten by another predator unless they are very infirm and elderly.

Humans eat more lion body parts than any other animal. Pic; Getty Images.

But the point that I want to get to is this: by far the biggest eater of lions are humans. The question doesn't ask what animals eat lions; it asks what eats a lion. And if you wanted to add up the amount of flesh and bones that come out of a lion which is eaten by people the tonnage would be far in excess of any other animal or perhaps all animals combined. This is because people like to eat lions. They eat lion bones and any other part of a lion to give them health and strength.

This superstition emanates from Asia. They also eat tiger body parts as well as you probably know. But as long as they are eating a big cat which is renowned for being strong and powerful they think that eating the body parts of such a creature imbues them with that power and strength. It's all complete madness and it results in lions being bred to be killed for their carcasses in South Africa. These are canned lion hunts. They are cruel and despicable in the eyes of any animal advocate.

The life of a lion cub bred in captivity for canned lion hunts is brutally sad. It is mapped out and all of their life is for the commercial market. None of it is natural. It is a total abuse of lions.

But wherever a lion is killed and for whatever reason they can be butchered and the body parts channelled into this other market which is supplies lion body part products to be eaten or drunk by people. I don't want to go into it in detail because it's too gruesome. But I believe that any lion which is kill for any reason is channelled into the lion body part marketplace where it ultimately ends up in Asia.

So, for example, if a farmer kills a lion in retaliation because the lion killed his livestock then that deceased lion is valuable in the marketplace. But they are so valuable that they are bred to be killed and slaughtered like livestock. It's exactly the same for tigers in China. There are 8,000 tigers in China in tiger farms been bred to be slaughtered their body parts.

Humans are the most prolific eaters of lions and they eat these big cats with great eagerness in the firm belief that it does them some good but there's no science whatsoever to support this attitude. It's all idiotic superstition. Of course meat is a product and therefore it feeds people but to kill lions and endanger their survival in the wild because people want to eat their body parts is a form of madness in humankind. It's a descent into callous idiocy.

It is also a bit of ancient history which has survived to today. The belief comes from a thousand years ago. Anyone who believes eating lions and tigers makes them stronger etc. has failed to develop. They are trapped in the ignorant past.

Tourism Operators Should Not Include Abuse to Captive Bred Lions in Their Packages

Today I have been told by Kitty Block, the president of the Humane Society International, that tour operators are sending tourists to South Africa in package deals which include visiting captive bred lions. Sounds normal? No, not for the lions.

These lions are bred to entertain people. They are suffering for the enjoyment of people. They live in small enclosures. They are cared for improperly. They are fed poorly. They cannot express their natural behaviors. They are used for the pleasure of tourists. And when this abuse is done they are sent to hunting ranches where they are killed by pseudo-hunters who think that they can be macho men by shooting a captive lion with nowhere to go. These poor lions suffer a miserable life and all for the entertainment of people. Lions should be majestically roaming the Serengeti. Not this.

Captive lion bred to entertain tourists in South Africa. Photo: Humane Society International.

Their entire life cycle in a cycle of cruelty, Kitty Block informs us. The cubs are taken from their mothers when days old to...guess what, entertain people. People love to handle lion cubs. They want to pet them and stroke them like domestic cats. They want to be photographed with them. They want to take a selfie of themselves with a sweet, cute lion cub. For these lion cubs it will be the beginning of a journey of misery and ending in a cruel death at the hands of a stupid hunter in canned lion hunts.

Juvenile lions are forced to "walk with lion" activities while adults are killed for their body parts and/or trophy hunting. The mother of these cubs face great suffering in a life of constant breeding to repeat the vicious cycle initiated by businessmen in South Africa.

I urge all tourism operators to take heed of what is going on with lions in South Africa and to ensure that their tour packages do not include activities regarding captive lions for the sake of their welfare for the sake of morality. It is time for people to live in harmony with wildlife. It is time to stop abusing animals for commercial profit. And tourists should ask the tour operator what's included and refuse any package that includes the above-mentioned cruelty.

Australians Can't Bring Home Their Trophies From Canned Hunts

This is a nice story in one way and the foul story in another way.  You may have heard about canned hunts. They take place quite commonly in South Africa.  What they do is they breed lions for sample and put them in an enclosure which severely restricts their movements making it very easy for a high fee paying individual to shoot the animal with a weapon of his choice. It sounds completely mad to me but obviously they enjoy it. I suppose they want to take the trophy home to show it off to their friends and family as some sort of pseudo-macho statement.

Well, now they can't, not in Australia in any case. Australians who go on canned hunting trips will be banned from bringing their trophies home.

Greg Hunt, Australia's environment minister, recently announced that he would ban imports of all lion body parts and rhino body parts into Australia.

Gradually, it appears to have dawned upon the Australian government that it is immoral to participate in canned hunts and this directive by the government is intended, I presume, to put Australians off from going to South Africa to shoot lions and rhinos in an enclosure.

Greg Hunt makes a sensible observation that it is not right at this time in history to allow their citizens to bring back the stuffed carcasses of endangered species as trophies.

Apparently, more than 100 lion parts, including entire stuffed bodies, paws and skulls have been imported by Australians into Australia over the past 4 years.

Good news but the bad news is that it will go on taking place in South Africa ad nauseam until the South African government do something about it, which they won't of course because it rakes in too much money.  The hunters will pay anything from £5000-£25,000 to shoot animals with shotguns, pistols or crossbows!