Captive Lion Operations Continue as South Africa's Phase-Out Pledge Stalls

SOUTH AFRICA’S CAPTIVE LION INDUSTRY REMAINS OPERATIONAL DESPITE FIVE-YEAR PHASE-OUT COMMITMENT

Approximately 8,000 lions housed across roughly 350 facilities continue to be bred commercially in South Africa, even as the government has spent more than five years committing to shut the industry down. The gap between stated policy and actual enforcement has become the defining operational reality of the captive lion sector, according to conservation and animal welfare organisations monitoring it closely.

Additional reference context is available at https://mg.co.za/the-green-guardian/2026-08-23-sa-s-captive-lion-industry-remains-legal-despite-years-of-promises-to-phase-it-out-say-animal-welfare-groups/.

Animal welfare groups say the disconnect persists despite parliamentary scrutiny dating back to 2018, multiple expert reviews, and formal government commitments. Policy intentions have simply not translated into legal prohibitions or facility closures. “The government has committed to phasing out the captive lion breeding industry, yet captive lion breeding remains legal and the industry remains largely operational,” said Fiona Miles, director of Four Paws South Africa, speaking at a World Lion Day briefing.

The implementation timeline tells the story. Parliament’s portfolio committee on environmental affairs held a two-day colloquium on captive lion breeding in 2018, calling for urgent policy and legislative review. Then-environment minister Barbara Creecy responded by appointing a High-Level Panel to examine policies and practices relating to the management, breeding, hunting and trade of elephant, lion, leopard and rhino. When the panel released its report on May 2, 2021, Creecy adopted its majority recommendations, which stated that South Africa should not captive-breed lions, keep lions in captivity or use captive lions or their derivatives commercially.

The panel identified substantial risks: the captive lion industry posed threats to wild lion conservation, tourism and South Africa’s international reputation, while the trade in lion parts created risks of stimulating poaching and illegal trade. Creecy instructed her department to action the recommendations and undertake the necessary consultation for implementation.

In December 2022, Creecy appointed a ministerial task team to assess the industry and identify voluntary exit options. Cabinet approved the task team’s final report in March 2024. The government published its policy position on the conservation and sustainable use of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros in April 2024, setting out the objective to end the captive keeping of lions for commercial purposes, close captive lion facilities, halt intensive breeding in controlled environments and end the commercial exploitation of captive and captive-bred lions.

On the ground, nothing has closed.

The centerpiece of legislative action has been a proposed lion prohibition notice. The department first published a draft in September 2023 and released an amended version for public comment in November 2024. In July of last year, former environment minister Dion George stated that his department was making progress toward promulgating the notice, which would ban new captive lion breeding facilities for commercial purposes. The notice had completed key administrative steps and was awaiting promulgation by the executive authority. It remains unpromulgated and therefore not yet in force.

The distinction matters operationally. If promulgated, the notice would prevent new captive lion facilities from being established, but it would not require the closure of existing facilities or the removal of lions already in captivity. Linda Park of Voice4Lions emphasized that limitation directly: “The notice prohibits the opening of new facilities but does not bring existing infrastructure to an end.” Public expectation that the entire industry would cease operations has become confused with the actual, narrower scope of the proposed measure.

Blood Lions director Dr Louise de Waal said the prohibition notice had completed required processes and was “sitting on the minister’s desk for promulgation.” Delays in promulgation have created uncertainty and complicate future phase-out efforts as lions continue to be bred into captivity. Park noted that eight years have elapsed since the 2018 parliamentary colloquium: “The time for policy implementation is now long overdue.”

By contrast, one provincial government has moved faster. In February, the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency announced that it would no longer allow captive lion breeding, the establishment of new facilities or the import of captive lions. Park described Mpumalanga as “well ahead” of the national process.

The lion bone trade illustrates the broader implementation gap. South Africa has not had a legal export quota for captive-bred lion bones since 2019, according to the ministerial task team’s report. Lion bones are exported predominantly to Southeast Asia, where they are used in traditional medicine, including wines and tonics, as a substitute for tiger bone. In September last year, the department published a notice of intention to set a zero export quota for lion bones sourced from captive breeding operations for 2025, and the resulting quota was set at zero.

A December 2024 court application by the South African Predator Association seeks to compel the environment minister to set annual export quotas for lion bones and related products from captive breeding operations. The association has challenged the minister’s failure to establish quotas for 2024 and 2025, arguing that the lack of quotas has prevented the industry from exporting legally acquired stockpiles. Miles cautioned that restrictions on lion-bone exports should not be confused with an end to the captive lion industry itself: “A quota is yet to be set for this year, which in essence has the same implications as a zero quota. But it does not end captive lion breeding, it does not stop facilities from keeping lions and it does not stop other commercial activities involving lions or the stockpiling of those derivatives.”

Four Paws South Africa, Humane World for Animals South Africa, Voice4Lions and Blood Lions are calling for South Africa’s captive lion population to be the last generation bred for commercial exploitation. They want the government to prohibit the establishment of new captive lion breeding facilities and prohibit the breeding of captive lions.

Dr Matthew Schurch of Humane World for Animals South Africa called on Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister David Maynier to continue efforts to phase out the captive lion breeding industry and to prohibit new captive lion breeding facilities and the breeding of captive lions. The coalition said it remained committed to working with the minister, his department, stakeholders and the public to achieve a responsible, science-based and humane transition away from the commercial captive lion industry, while protecting South Africa’s international conservation and tourism reputation.

Miles framed the core operational challenge plainly: “Until policy commitments are translated into implementation, lions will continue to be born into an industry that the government itself has already recognised does not form part of South Africa’s future wildlife vision.” Whether Minister Maynier promulgates the prohibition notice before another breeding cycle passes is now the question the industry’s critics are watching most closely.