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South Africa delays ban on hunting of captive lions

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/04/africa/AF-GEN-South-Africa-Hunting.php

CAPE TOWN, South Africa: Long-awaited restrictions on hunting lions and other big game will enter into force next February, seven months later than scheduled, the government said Friday.
The new laws, announced earlier this year, ban the "canned hunting" of big predators and rhinos in small enclosures that offer them no means of escape. Lions bred in captivity will have to spend at least two years in the wild before they can be hunted to allow their self defense instincts to develop.

Environment Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk said at the time that he was sickened by the sight of wealthy tourists shooting tame animals from the back of a truck or felling rhinos with an arrow. He said he wanted to clean up the industry and restore the principle of fair chase to South Africa's tarnished hunting industry.

In a statement Friday, Van Schalkwyk said he had agreed to delay the new legislation after discussions with local officials concerned that the original June 1 deadline did not give them enough time.

Some hunters had threatened legal action against the government, saying they had hunting permits valid for the rest of the year. By delaying the laws, the government hopes that these permits will simply expire and not be renewed.

"No further postponement will be considered," the statement said.

South Africa is famous as home to the Big Five animals — lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and buffalo. Its flagship Kruger National Park attracts hundreds of thousands of camera toting visitors every year. Some 9,000 privately owned game farms and other government-run reserves also offer visitors a taste of the wild.

But it has also become a choice destination for wealthy gun-toting tourists willing to pay more than US$20,000 to take home a "trophy" lion or rhino's head.