Dear Friends, please can you help me in a campaign I’m passionately involved in. In less than two weeks time a lot of men in suits from C.I.T.E.S will meet in Johannesburg to decide the level of protection given to many species of wild animal. Please follow the link below to see how their votes could continue to condemn thousands of lions annually to a life of miserable incarceration, where they are literally farmed for the bullet of a so called hunter, so called because in the despicable “blood lions” industry that is spreading through South Africa. There is no real hunting, no respect or reverence for the life of one of the most iconic and majestic creatures to walk the planet. It is one thing, farming and mass breeding herd animals such as sheep and cattle, (much as I’m also appalled at most of the practices and conditions involved), but it is another thing entirely to farm an animal such as the lion squeezed together in small enclosures, deprived of the space and freedom to form prides and live as a lion is born to live. The word is that CITES may now consider lions less endangered and therefore vote for their protection status to be downgraded, because the number of captive lions has increased to almost 8000, despite the wild population decreasing by 80% in the last 50 years. Where is the heart and wisdom in that way of thinking? How can farming caged lions for the bullet be considered as conservation, or good for lions in any way? For me this is a heinous crime against nature and a sickening betrayal of our responsibility as custodians for all of life on earth. Please go to this website http://oneunitedroar.org to read about the campaign and find out how you and especially your young ones can engage your hearts and get involved, it’s a crucial decision they are about to make in South Africa, so let’s let them know how we feel, and how the lions feel, lets put a shout out for the true Kings of the jungle, who are being treated as a lifeless commodity to feed our greed.
With love and thanks,
Jerome