Animal Rights campaign celebrate massive successes of 2019 and state there is hope as many people are changing the way they interact with wildlife in South Africa.
South Africa (12 February 2020) – Blood Lions is commemorating its 5th (or Wood) anniversary this year. Since the release of the Blood Lions documentary film, the campaign has made great strides to raise global awareness around the captive lion breeding and “canned” (captive) hunting industries, as well as its associated tourism activities.
They have released a new video clip to give HOPE to supporters and the ongoing campaign. There were so many incredible milestones during 2019, and the video celebrates those.
Even though there are now an estimated 12,000 lions in captivity in South Africa, bred purely for commercial purposes, there are also many encouraging developments resulting from the collective voices.
“On social media we reached 7.4 million people across the globe in 2019 alone, making use of strong video and graphic content to spread our message. One such clip was the release of a powerful animation of the “Life Cycle of a Captive Lion” produced using Patrick George illustrations, which has been translated into nine different languages (English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian and Slovenian).”
We shared the story of the powerful animation which you can watch here. It brought us to tears when we saw it!
Blood Lions® has been aired in approximately 180 countries and territories around the world through TV channels including Discovery International, Animal Planet, MSNBC, TV Ontario, RTK, N-Tv, Planéte, People’s Weather, SABC3 and is now also available on Netflix Africa.
“In 2019, we screened the Blood Lions film at 21 schools and universities reaching close to 2,000 students. The YouthForLions campaign pledge to not pet lion cubs or walk with lions was signed by nearly 2,000 young people from around South Africa.
The campaign was afforded pro bono online and print media coverage equivalent of over ZAR 7,5 million in 2019.
The icing on the cake however was the release of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) Guidelines and Tool to evaluate captive wildlife attractions and activities in order to help the industry and visitors to make responsible and ethical choices. We would like to congratulate SATSA on developing such solid and timely guidance for the tourism industry and travellers alike.”
The SATSA guidelines draw a clear ‘line in the sand’ as to what is no longer considered as acceptable in terms of tourism experiences involving captive wildlife. You can read about the guideline here. This includes cub petting, walking with predators, training of animals to ‘perform’, “canned” or captive hunting and the trade in animal parts.
“We would like to thank our donors, colleagues, partners and followers for their loyal support over the years. Without you, Blood Lions would not be able to give our captive wildlife a voice.
When travelling in South Africa, THINK before you VISIT, CUDDLE, WALK WITH, VOLUNTEER WITH or SHOOT wild animals being held in captivity.”
You can find out more about Blood Lions via their Facebook page here. There is hope for lions; people are changing the way they think about animal interactions. Take a look at their 2019 success below.