THE BETRAYAL OF THE 8 ENKOSINI LIONS

[Guest guest]

Posted on behalf of AWC

Wednesday, December 18, 2002 8:18 AM

Enkosini lions

PRESS RELEASE by Animal Welfare Community.

THE BETRAYAL OF THE 8 ENKOSINI LIONS.

In breach of the rule against publishing matters which are sub judice, the

Mpumalanga Parks Board (MPB) has issued a press release in which it

publishes allegations which are disputed, and are the subject of High Court

proceedings which will be heard early in the new year.

Defamatory allegations like 'smuggling' and 'irresponsible' have been used

against the trustees of the Enkosini lions in the MPB's extraordinary press

release, in which they claim a 'landmark' legal victory against two animal

lovers. As a result of this judgment, 8 lions who were rescued from the

canned lion industry and are presently being cared for in an excellent forty

acre camp within a six thousand acre sanctuary near Lydenburg, are going to

be drugged - a life-threatening exercise - and flown to inferior temporary

accommodation in Johannesburg to await the hearing of the review case in

February; after which, if Enkosini wins, they will have to be drugged yet

again and flown back again.

The fact is that MPB has merely succeeded in an interlocutory procedure to

overturn the interim interdict which Enkosini had earlier obtained. Hardly a

'landmark' legal decision. At the High Court hearing, the MPB relied upon a

misleading affidavit by the NSPCA, as well as people like Marius Prinsloo, a

well-known captive lion breeder who is presently being prosecuted in the

Free State on allegations of smuggling Cheetah into the province from

Namibia for sale into the captive breeding/canned hunting industry, and

Riccardo Ghiazza, of Tuli elephant ill-repute.

â?oWe are all furious with the NSPCA for betraying the best interests of the

lions.â? says Chris Mercer of the Kalahari Raptor Centre, spokesperson for

a large group of organizations in the animal welfare community, including

CARE, the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare in South Africa), the

SAAV, XWE, Justice for Animals, Animal Act magazine, Beauty without Cruelty,

Sanwild, Milimani, Compassion in World Farming SA , Vervet Monkey Foundation

and Wildlife Action Group.

" What is the NSPCA doing on the same side of the Courtroom as people like

Prinsloo and Ghiazza? We have been struggling for more than a year now to

get the NSPCA to help us to protect our predators by establishing a network

of wildlife sanctuaries in South Africa to provide a humane alternative to

the canned lion industry and our medieval, racist problem animal control

laws. When captive lion breeding and canned lion hunting is finally stopped,

and our problem animal laws repealed, where will all the animals go if there

are no sanctuaries? We consider that this judgement which threatens the very

lives and security of 8 lions for the sake of a six week period before the

review case is heard, is at least partly due to the stance taken by

management at the NSPCA. "

â?oJust examine the conduct of the NSPCA in this matter,â? asks Mercer.

" They rushed misleading, incomplete and disputed information into the High

Court in an affidavit, without waiting for a reply from Enkosini to resolve

the very concerns which they themselves had raised in correspondence, and

without any warning that there was a cut-off date for the information

sought. How unreasonable was this? What was the urgency? The lions were not

going anywhere.

Then, when we pointed out the inaccuracies in their affidavit to the

Executive Committee of NSPCA, and invited them to send a senior official out

to Enkosini to do a proper assessment and to file an accurate and complete

affidavit in order to assist the High Court, we got no response. What

possible reason could the NSPCA have for refusing such a reasonable request?

And now look at the plight of the lions. To be ripped away from a secure

environment in which they have been content over the last seven months, and

brutally thrust into a new and inferior facility for what? For the sake of a

few weeks? Why cannot they stay where they are for the few weeks that remain

before the Court case? We invite journalists to visit Enkosini to see how

happy and well-settled they are in scenic and tranquil facilities, and then

ask the National Council of SPCA to justify its complicity in this cruel and

unnecessary manipulation of the 8 lions. "

The animal welfare community calls upon all concerned citizens to contact

the National Council of the SPCA and ask them to demand that the lions are

not removed pending the determination of the High Court review proceedings

in February. The NSPCA's contact details are:

Telephone Number: 27 11 907 3591

27 11 907 3592

082 397 8392 (Cellular phone)

Fax: 27 11 907 4013

E mail: spca