While travelling to South Africa in April of this year (2023) I came across a book in a SA airport shop entitled Cuddle Me, Kill Me. It showed two pictures on the cover, one of a cute lion cub and the other of a black maned majestic adult male lion. I read the cover and blurb on the back cover which gave a brief synopsis of the captive lion breeding and canned hunting industry in Africa. In 2010 I had been in Southern Africa and had participated in an activity that I suspected was a part of this abuse of animals for the amusement of tourists and the profit of unscrupulous businessmen. When I returned home I purchased a copy on my Kindle.
Reading the book I also became aware of a 2015 documentary called Blood Lions. From reading the book and watching the documentary I became aware of the various stages of this abysmal, cruel industry: breeding of captive lions; the removal of newborn cubs from their mothers; hand rearing of the cubs by misguided tourists who paid for the privilege of raising 'orphaned' cubs; the fees paid by other tourists to pat lion cubs; the activity known as walking with lions again paid for by misled tourists looking for a authentic wildlife adventure; the trophy hunting of caged lions known as 'canned' hunting and the disgusting bone industry where bones of lions are used by Asians to make various consumable items purported to increase vitality or health. The lion bones are used as a substitute for tiger bones now that they have been banned by the Chinese under international pressure and outrage. It is a big money business.
As an active traveller and documentary watcher I cannot understand how I missed learning about this abusive industry. I am disappointed that I inadvertently sanctioned this business by my participation in walking with lions and by paying for the 'privilege' of doing it in Zambia at a place called Alert. I discovered in the book that the reason we had to carry sticks when walking with lions was that the lions 'respected' people carrying sticks because they were routinely beaten with them when being trained. At the time I was delighted to experience something I had never dreamed of being able to do. But, now I am ashamed to have aided and abetted. It made me rethink another activity that I undertook that same year when I visited the 'Tiger Temple' where I could cuddle a tiger cub and pat a fully grown chained tiger.
