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Daily Mirror
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Exotic pet ownership surges in UK with more than 300 big cats living in homes
The Ark Rescue sanctuary in Lincolnshire is one of several places picking up the pieces after exotic pet purchases go wrong, while experts warn UK legislation needs to be tightened up to protect species New movies and TV shows are driving a surge in exotic pet ownership, but then are turfed out after people realise they can't cope with their complex needs, it's been claimed. More than 300 dangerous, large cats are living across the UK, according to the Born Free Foundation. Many are in regular homes, with owners who don't have zoo licences. Jamie Mintram, who runs The Ark wildlife sanctuary near Boston, Lincolnshire, also blamed social media for fuelling the new craze, while saying that movies can unwittingly made some species sought-after. He said: 'The demand now is for exotic wildcats which is being driven by posts on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. We saw the trend really kick-off after that horrible documentary Tiger King came out in the first lockdown. "When people realise they can't get a lion or a tiger in the UK, they look for the closest thing and we've had a lot of cases of wild cats such as serval and lynx cats being bought on a whim. READ MORE: You have probably never heard of the world's most trafficked animal - and it now risks extinction 'But these are exotic wild animals with complex needs and have wrongly been nicknamed house cheetahs. People buy them to show off on social media and to have something different to brag about. But these cats are much bigger than a regular cat. "They're not cuddly and don't want to snuggle on the sofa. When people realise they don't make ideal pets, they get dumped.' Jamie, who started by taking in abandoned reptiles, said adverts like Compare the Market were responsible for a surge in ownership in Meerkats. Foxes, wallabies and jungle cats have also been seized or abandoned by British owners. Residents include Flerken, a savannah cat deemed too wild to be kept as a pet. She is a cross between an African wildcat and a domestic breed - seized by Border Force officers after being illegally imported into the UK nearly five years ago. Jamie says the breed, which can grow up to three times the size of a domestic cat, can fetch between £16,000 - £20,000. Another rescue is African serval wild cat Anubis who was given up by the family he lived with in Oldham, Greater Manchester. A quick search on the website Preloved shows how easy it is to buy savannah kittens, alongside meerkats, skunks and sugar gliders, a nocturnal possum that inhabit the forests of Australia and New Guinea. Earlier this year six were dumped outside a Lidl supermarket in West Lothian, Scotland. Chris Lewis, Born Free's Captivity Research and Policy Manager said, "Currently, it is far too easy for people to impulsively buy almost any wild animal as a pet. Often animals are bought and sold as novelties after being depicted as 'cute' or 'unusual' on social media, tv shows or in movies, with potential owners having little knowledge of the complex needs they have. 'Current legislation can't keep up with the ever changing trends and demands for wild animals as pets and fails to protect the animals sadly caught up in this trade. The legislation which governs the keeping and selling of wild animals as pets needs urgent review. Born Free would also like to see the introduction of permitted lists, as adopted by a number of other countries, which aim to ensure only species whose welfare can be met in a domestic setting are allowed to be kept as pets." It would seem sensible to presume that purchasing a big cat in the UK it is not possible. But according to figures from Born Free in 2021 there are 11 lions, eight tigers, 11 leopards, 18 pumas, 10 cheetahs, two ligers and one jaguar .50 years on from the DWA Act being introduced to discourage the fashion for interesting pets, it is perfectly legal for private collectors to own a cat as big as a lion. All you need is the approval of your local council. Arthur Thomas, FOUR PAWS UK Public Affairs advisor said: "These majestic wild animals, big or small, have complex physical, psychological, and social needs that cannot be met in a home environment. Sadly, the craze for adding a wild animal to your family has been made more accessible because of social media. FOUR PAWS has campaigned for greater protections for all animals and believes that a ban on the sale of animals on social media sites would be a step in the right direction to ensure animal welfare is protected. Ultimately, we should look to move to a Positive List model, as just been approved by EU Parliament, that would significantly restrict the keeping of wild animals in the UK. Animals should never be a status symbol and we hope that this is merely a cruel trend, and one that passes quickly."
Times
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
We make our living from lion hunts in South Africa — why would we stop?
There are endangered species and then there is Hannes Wessels. An avid hunter himself but not of lions, his organisation represents dozens of farmers who breed the big cats for slaughter. If the South African government succeeds in its mission to end breeding farms, such as the one Wessels runs in Limpopo province, he and his members will be out of business. The country has the largest captive-bred lion population in the world, including about 300 commercial farms and roughly 8,000 of the big cats. They are used in trophy hunts, exported live, or their bones are sent to Asia for use in a traditional medicine known as tiger-bone wine. Ten years after the killing of a Zimbabwean lion named Cecil by an American dentist made headlines around the world, the fate of the animals is dividing the country. Cecil, the 13-year-old leader of his pride who lived in the Hwange National Park, was shot with a bow and arrow by Walter Palmer, who reportedly paid $50,000 to take part in the hunt. Presidents and celebrities denounced his killing, the US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel teared up on live television. An image of Cecil was beamed on to the Empire State Building in New York to raise awareness of trophy hunting. Despite high-profile campaigns, including by Dame Joanna Lumley, a patron of the Born Free Foundation wildlife charity, change has been slow to bring about. 'We need a ban on the import of hunting trophies here in Britain,' she said this week. 'Cecil's death cannot be in vain.' South Africa's environment ministry is attempting to phase out the industry, initially by inviting lion breeders to voluntarily exit the business — although it is providing no incentives for them to do so. It has suggested the breeding must stop, but has not provided a deadline. In a message to The Times, Dion George, the environment minister, insisted that the process of phasing out captive breeding was continuing. 'No new facilities are permitted … Breeding prohibition process initiated,' he said. Campaigners suggest that for all the talk, little has been done. 'Since Cecil's death in 2015, global outrage has not led to a significant reduction in trophy hunting in South Africa,' said Fiona Miles, director at Four Paws in South Africa, an international organisation for the protection of big cats. 'Implementation has been slow and no legal ban has been enacted yet. Between 2015 and 2020, South Africa exported over 2,100 lion trophies, primarily from captive-bred lions,' she said. Wessels, who heads the South African Predator Association, insists that breeding lions to be killed is a 'conservation tool' that 'contributes to the survival of species and habitat'. He added: 'Then obviously there's an economic contribution — trophy hunting brings in substantial revenue to the South African economy, particularly in the rural areas where job opportunities are limited.' He said the industry supported about 8,000 jobs in a country with 50 per cent youth unemployment. He claimed that if it was closed, workers did not have the skills to transition into other jobs and it would have an undesirable knock-on effect. • British woman killed by elephant in Zambian safari park For all the outrage about Cecil's death, in Africa many people sprang to the defence of hunting. A Zimbabwean academic, Goodwell Nzou, wrote an op-ed for The New York Times at the time headlined 'In Zimbabwe, we don't cry for lions'. Nzou said that when he heard about Cecil's death 'the village boy inside me instinctively cheered: one lion fewer to menace families like mine'. He mocked the reaction in the West, asking: 'Did all those Americans signing petitions understand that lions actually kill people? … Did Jimmy Kimmel choke up because Cecil was murdered or because he confused him with Simba from The Lion King?' He wasn't alone. When asked about the trophy-hunting controversy at the time, Zimbabwe's baffled minister of information responded: 'What lion?' Jess de Klerk, chief executive of the Professional Hunters' Association of South Africa, said lion hunting contributed approximately $40 million directly to the economy of South Africa. Both de Klerk and Wessels stressed that their organisations did not allow canned lion hunting, which is illegal because animals are slaughtered in fenced areas. Miles added: 'Most lions used in canned hunting are bred on commercial farms.' It is not only lions that are under threat. Other big cat species, including leopards, which are at risk of extinction, are also favourites of trophy hunters. A recent report found that more than 700 leopard trophies were exported from Africa in 2023, mainly to the US. It added that the world record-holding trophy hunter was Steven Chancellor, one of President Trump's key donors. • Why young people and women are taking up hunting in France And then there is what Miles calls the 'little-known and alarming issue' of South Africa's tiger trade. Despite tigers being non-native to Africa, the country is the biggest farmer and exporter of tigers in the world. They are bred — often in squalid conditions — for trophy hunting, their bones and live export, and the trade isn't regulated owing to legal loopholes. 'The problem is there's so much money involved in hunting,' said Wessels. 'The moment you close the captive-breds, they're going to start hunting the wild lions.' There are only 3,000 of those wild lions left in South Africa.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Advocates shocked as officials turn blind eye to devastating animal trade: 'The system is rigged'
Despite recommendations for suspension due to concerns over poaching, Mongabay reported that Cambodian exports of the critically endangered long-tailed macaques will remain legal until November 2025. The Standing Committee of CITES — the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — recommended the suspension of Cambodia's exports of long-tailed macaques. The recommendation was raised during a meeting in Geneva in February due to concerns over poaching and misrepresentation of wild-caught macaques as captive-bred animals. Cambodia objected to the recommended trade suspension. Other country representatives at the meeting backed Cambodia's objection, including those from Japan, Canada, and the U.S. The U.S. and Japan's ties with Cambodia in the biomedical sector may have influenced their stance on the issue, per Mongabay. Canada's representative voiced their interest in continuing the export, noting that Canadian research laboratories purchase and use long-tailed macaques in biomedical research. The delegates made a final decision on February 4, according to the report, agreeing to grant Cambodian wildlife officials until November 2025 to host CITES inspections and provide more data on birth rates at monkey-breeding facilities. If Cambodia fails to provide adequate data, CITES may enforce stricter trade regulations — but until then, the endangered long-tailed macaques remain at risk. According to the Born Free Foundation, long-tailed macaques, also known as Macaca fascicularis, are classified as endangered by the IUCN as of 2022. Cambodia's continued export of these endangered monkeys could heavily impact them and lead to their extinction. Mislabeling wild-caught macaques as captive-bred is also harmful as it puts them at risk of being poached and trafficked. Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Definitely Only in some areas No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Trafficking long-tailed macaques can pose a threat to humans because these monkeys carry zoonotic pathogens. If left unchecked due to poaching and wildlife trafficking, macaques could transfer zoonotic diseases like malaria and the hepatitis B virus. CITES' decision to allow Cambodia's macaque exports until November 2025 is disappointing news to conservationists, scientists, and animal rights groups. Lisa Jones-Engel, senior science advisor on primate experimentation at PETA, expressed her disappointment at CITES' decision. Jones-Engel told Mongabay it's "so obvious that the system is rigged." By failing to act, governments are accelerating the decline of an already endangered species. Weak enforcement of laws like CITES could also enable exploitation, which can also put other endangered species at risk. Cambodia's long-tailed macaque exports remain legal for now, but it won't be forever. CITES will review the country's trade status after the CITES Conference of the Parties, which will be held from November 24 to December 5. While CITES has promised to review Cambodia's trade status on macaques in November, these endangered monkeys could also benefit from more conservation efforts. Other species considered endangered or thought to be extinct have been making comebacks in recent years thanks to crucial conservation efforts, like the spoonbill in England and bighorn sheep in the Sierra Nevada. The best thing individuals can do about the long-tailed macaque exports is to stay informed about conservation laws and show support for animal rights groups. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
