South African National Parks (SANParks) has come under fire for its decision to ‘put down’ seven lions in the Karoo National Park.
A pride of seven lions in the Karoo National Park was shot dead after escaping from the park and killing 10 sheep from a neighbouring farm.
SANParks has defended the decision to put down the lions which it management deemed to be “damage-causing animals”.
In a statement issued last week, the conversation group said that the decision “was not taken in haste nor lightly”.
Wildlife activist Linda Park has slammed SANParks for failing to address the root causes of the incident.
She says poor fencing and population control are among the core issues that park management must be held responsible for.
Park, the director of animal rights group Voice4Lions, says SANParks took the easy way out by killing the lions.
She says other nature reserve authorities, including Ezemvelo Nature Reserve in Gauteng and CapeNature in the Western Cape, are also guilty of similar shortcomings.
They are dealing with the symptoms, and very badly at that, instead of dealing with the cause of these issues.
Linda Park, Director – Voice4Lions
Lions carrying captivity in fenced areas is crucial. In these smaller parks, lions breed [a lot], your numbers go up exponentially and you have a problem. You are going to have dispersments of young males. Groups of females often go out.
Linda Park, Director – Voice4Lions
Your cause is poor fencing, population management which isn’t happening, sterilisation which should be happening in small parks to control the breeding, and there is also a reduction in prey when you have a higher carrying capacity than you should.
Linda Park, Director – Voice4Lions
Instead of addressing the cause of the animals, they shoot them and kill them off. But there’s a bigger picture there.
Linda Park, Director – Voice4Lions
We know that there’s very little space left in the wild for lions due mainly to habitat loss. It’s incumbent upon us to recongise the mess that we are responsible for this and to manage the mess that we have made.
Linda Park, Director – Voice4Lions
SANParks have taken the easy way out to just kill the animals, issue a statement and be done with it. In this day and age, it’s unacceptable.
Linda Park, Director – Voice4Lions
Listen to the discussion on Afternoon Drive with John Maytham:
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Article source: https://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/398238/the-bullet-is-the-easy-way-out-sanparks-slammed-over-killing-of-karoo-lions