In South Africa, killing captive-bred lions to export their skeletons is perfectly legal -- and increasingly lucrative.
Kris Everatt was tracking lion prides as part of his conservation research in Mozambique's Limpopo National Park when he came across dozens of dead vultures near a waterhole.
Many of the lions were found with their heads and paws hacked off, while others were only missing their teeth and claws. Some were completely deboned, with just their butchered flesh and skin remaining, Everatt said. South Africa has been legally exporting lion skeletons since 2008. Back then, the bones typically entered the international market as a by-product of the trophy hunting industry. Many of the trophies originated from captive-born lions that were killed in canned hunts, in which the often-tamed animal is hunted in a confined area. Americans once comprised half of South Africa's foreign clientele, according to a recent study of the industry.
The growing demand for lion bones comes at a time when the African lion, which is classified as"vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, is already under major threat across the African continent from habitat loss, a decrease in their natural prey species, and human encroachment.
The Asian demand for lion parts is on the rise and South Africa's legal trade is only stoking the flames, he said. The lions are then hand-reared so they grow up to be tame and used to humans. Cubs are used in petting attractions while they're very young and small. Adolescent lions are used in other tourist activities, such as walking with lions.
Jennings said the young cubs at the facility were passed around to groups of tourists, who cuddled and petted them and posed for photos. Jennings said the staff continued to be dismissive whenever she raised concerns, so she decided to quietly document her stay and then started a blog called"Claws Out" when she returned home. Her blog ultimately became part of a U.K.-registered charity, International Aid for the Protection and Welfare of Animals, where Jennings now works as a campaign manager and has created a short documentary about her experience.
"Often raised in appalling conditions, the animals are emaciated or very diseased," Jones told ABC News in a recent telephone interview."If you're raising an animal to sell into the bone trade, the condition of the animal doesn’t really matter."
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