Tiger 'farming' in SA: cruel, dangerous, and against global norms

Dr Neil D'Cruze, head of wildlife research and policy at World Animal Protection and Visiting Researcher at the University of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit; and Angie Elwin, wildlife research manager at World Animal Protection and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Reading, spoke to Moina Spooner, assistant editor at The Conversation Africa, about the captive-bred tiger industry in South Africa.

- Moina Spooner

A tiger escaped from a residence and roamed the countryside outside Johannesburg for four days last month. It attacked a man, killed several animals, and was eventually shot by authorities.

Tigers aren’t native to South Africa and are considered an alien species. This tiger’s escape highlights the country’s controversial commercial captive-breeding industry and the key role that South Africa plays in the international trade in big cats.

Tigers are being intensively farmed for tourism, hunting, and commercial trade in live individuals and their body parts.

What are your main concerns about South Africa’s captive predator industry?

The recent tiger escape in Johannesburg demonstrates the safety risk that this industry poses to wildlife farmworkers, visitors and the public. Attacks by big cats in South Africa have resulted in many life-changing human injuries and deaths in recent years.

Although individual tigers can be tamed to varying degrees, this should not be confused with domestication. Tigers are wild animals with biological and behavioural needs that can only be fully met in the wild.

Another concern we have is for animal welfare. Big-cat breeding facilities in South Africa have been consistently criticised for their substandard conditions.

Also, none of the big-cat facilities in South Africa have demonstrated that they are basing their breeding programmes on internationally recognised stud books or have successfully released any tigers into the wild. They therefore currently provide no demonstrable direct conservation benefit.