THE depraved trade of lion bones used for Chinese “medicines”, wines and jewellery could spark a new global pandemic, experts have warned.
'Unfair Game', a new book by Lord Ashcroft, reveals the sickening practices carried out at 333 farms in South Africa where the big cats are bred and butchered for their skeletons.
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The cruel multi-million pound industry is fuelled by demand in China and South-East Asia for traditional medicines.
In the new book, serialised in the Mail on Sunday, it is revealed that some lions are 'deboned' while they are still ALIVE because it gives the skeleton a lucrative pink colour – caused by blood being left in the bones.
Unfair Game details a covert operation by security services, including ex-British soldiers, to expose the vile industry by using a dealer as an undercover “double agent.”
One of the most serious claims by ex-Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft is that the lions which are born into captivity are raised in such disgusting conditions that they could spread fatal diseases such as tuberculosis and botulism.
SLAUGHTERED FOR SKELETONS
Dr Peter Caldwell, a wildlife vet in Pretoria, said botulism – an infection which attacks the nervous system – could spread to people through infected bones and skin.
He said: “If that lion dies from botulism, the people who bred it won’t waste that animal by burying it or burning it. Instead, they will put it into the lion bone and skin trade.
“And the toxin remains in the body, so the people who utilise that lion can die a miserable, painful death.”
Other diseases spread by lion bones include brucellosis - an infection that causes arthritis and inflammation of the heart - and tuberculosis, which killed 1.5 million people globally in 2018.
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Another shocking claim in the book is that a rich Russian paid one of the farms to let his bloodthirsty pack of hunting dogs savage one of the caged lions to death.
When Lord Ashcroft’s lead investigator, who carried out an eight-month probe, presented his evidence to a South African police chief it was rejected and he was told he was “lucky” he was not in jail.
The book estimates there are at least 12,000 lions, bred in captivity in South Africa, compared to just 3,000 in the wild.
Sick farm bosses let wealthy hunters into the enclosures to kill the big cats for sport in so-called “canned hunts” which result in 1,000 lion deaths every year.
Investigators also found that poachers hunt and kill wild lions in neighbouring Botswana by poisoning or shooting them in the stomachs to protect the precious bones.
A lion skeleton is worth up to £3,200.
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PM set to lift 2-metre social distancing rule in July to help businessesAnd in sick markets in Johannesburg, lion bones and skins are sold alongside exotic animals such as pangolins – a creature which has been linked to Covid-19.
Lord Ashcroft writes: "So are we sleep-walking straight into a new major public health crisis with the lion bone industry at its core? I fear we are.
"It could be a surge in a disease that already exists, or it could be a new and frightening infection, just like Covid-19 was."
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June 14, 2020 at 08:25PM
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Trade in bones from captive lions for Chinese ‘medicines’, wines and jewellery could spark new pandemic, warn - The Sun
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