Dr Kelly Marnewick from The Department of Nature Conservation was appointed by Minister Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, to the Task Team that will facilitate the implementation of the Ministerial Task Team Report for a period of 18 months effective from 1 May 2024 to 30 November 2025. The purpose of the task team is to facilitate the implementation of the outcomes of the ministerial task team report on voluntary exit options and pathways for the captive lion industry.
Dr Kelly Marnewick
Members of the task team will undertake and finalise engagements with facility owners who have volunteered and shown interest in exiting the captive lion industry, through mutually agreed terms and addressing the socio-economic impacts. It will also facilitate engagement between donors and facility owners who are interested in voluntarily exiting the industry, to aid their facilities' smooth transition out of the captive lion industry.
“We are a small group of only three. I was a member of the original Task Team that provided recommendations to the Minister on voluntary exit options and pathways from the captive lion industry. I have been re-appointed to the task team to implement the recommendations of the first Task Team, due to my expertise as a large carnivore biologist, knowledge of the captive lion industry and trade in lion parts and derivative as well as the conservation space around large carnivores.
My skills in training will be used in training government official in implementing some of the new requirements around wildlife welfare that have recently been legislated.” Kelly explained.
In view of the often negative debates, especially in the media, about the Ministerial Task Team’s report and the possible negative fall-outs that may follow, Kelly explained: “This is a very complex issue. The captive lion industry as a whole has received a lot of negative attention due to many reasons including moral and ethical concerns around breeding with ions in captivity for their body parts and trophies; the use of cubs for interactions with tourists, voluntourism and links between tourist facilities providing cubs for interaction and then entering into the hunting industry; animal welfare and well-being concerns; damage to SA’s reputation as a conservation leader and ethical tourism destination (both photographic and consumptive tourism) – research shows that this could result in losses to our GDP. Thus, the captive lion industry is not operating in isolation and this can have negative impacts on the larger wildlife industry, including photographic tourism and the larger hunting industry. The work of the Task Team focuses on voluntary exit from the captive lion industry and in this case the exit will include helping volunteers to transform their business to other income streams. A key aim is to avoid job losses.”
