The Lion’s Share

The major threat to the world’s remaining wild tigers is poaching to meet the high demand in Asia for their parts and derivatives.

This demand is exacerbated by the legal trade in lion bone – yet the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 2016 decide to allow South Africa to export up to 800 lion skeletons – so long as they were sourced from captive-breeding facilities in South Africa.

Not only is it likely this decision will negatively impact wild lion populations, it will also adversely impact on other large big cat species, especially endangered tigers.