Lion bones have become a hot commodity for their use in Asian traditional medicine, driving up exports from South Africa to the East and creating new fears of the survival of the species.
Conservationists are already angry over lion trophy hunting.The skeletons are mostly shipped to Vietnam and Laos, feeding conservationists'fears that the market will drive up lion poaching -- just as the illegalhunting of rhinos escalates for their horns, also popular in Asian traditionalremedies. "Suddenly, and very recently, there are a great number of peoplefrom Laos who have a big interest for trophy hunting,”said Pieter Kat fromconservation NGO LionAid.
Around 500 lions are hunted legally every year in SouthAfrica, most of them from commercial lion breeding farms which also supply zoosall over the world. Their crushed bones have become popular as substitute forthe bones of tigers in love potions or "tiger wine". Trade in tigerparts is banned under international law as the animal is a threatened species. NowAsian hunters buy lion trophy hunting permits to get at the bones. "Theyprefer hunting lionesses, whose $4,000 price tag is more affordable than themales," Kat claimed. A lion skeleton these days fetches up to $10,000. Afew hundred partial or complete lion skeletons were shipped out of the countryin 2010, according to latest official figures -- all completely legal. Thetrade started in 2008. "That trade is monitored very, very closely byprovincial officers. They don't release the bones unless they are sure thatthey come from a legally hunted lion or that the lion died of naturalcauses," said Pieter Potgieter, chairman of the South African PredatorBreeders Association.
Animal rights groups say some cats are killed off on thesly, a theory possibly supported by the nabbing of illegal exporters at ORTambo International Airport in Johannesburg. Breeders are also coy about thenumber of lions they have on their farms. South Africa is thought to have 5,000in captivity.
Groups are divided over the dilemma: maintain a legal andregulated trade in lion carcasses from animals bred in captivity or outlaw thetrade and risk a spike in poaching. Authorities, meanwhile, have remainedsilent.
