Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to inform the House about a great venture in life that many young people around the world take, including from my electorate of La Trobe, and that is to travel to South Africa and work on a conservation park. Participants pay around $700 per a week for the experience to nurture orphaned lion cubs back into the wild.

If that statement were only true. The sad reality is that there is a huge deception taking place, as many of these so-called conservation parks are actually the breeding ground for the game hunting of lions. Welcome to the world of what is now called 'canned hunting', which allows a lion to be killed in an enclosed area for around $40,000 and for the so-called 'hunter' to take their trophy back home for display.

I had no idea of canned hunting until I met one of my constituents in La Trobe, Ms Donalea Patman, the founder of For the Love of Wildlife, where I viewed video footage which depicted many distressing scenes, including one of a lion lying on the ground, and at close range, a not-so-skilled or brave hunter took several shots to kill it. The very sad aspect of the video is that the lion did not try to escape, and seemed perplexed as to what was happening. I assume the lion did not regard the hunter as a threat.

To stop canned hunting, we must take away the incentive that allows hunt trophies back into Australia. If you view South African websites such africanskyhuntinchco.za you can read how they pride themselves on trophy hunts. To stop this practice, Australia can play its roll through legislation.

In 1976 Australia ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Under Appendix II nearly all species of wild cat, including the African lion are listed. In Australia, the relevant legislation falls under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, which usually requires a permit from the Minister for the Environment to import trophies derived from animals listed in the CITES Appendix. In 2013 in Australia the following African lion parts were imported, namely, two body mounts, six hunt trophies, five skins and six skulls. How tragic is this?

I firmly believe Australia should not allow the importation of African lion parts as CITES Appendix II states that the specimen must be legally obtained. Therefore, if the proponents of game hunting are stating that lions are bred for conservation but instead used for hunting then this is a deception. Secondly, CITES declares that a species cannot be exported if there is concern of the survival of the species. In Appendix II the African lion is listed by its scientific name as Panthera leo and its listed status is 'vulnerable', as there has been a species population reduction of approximately 30 per cent in the past two decades.

I also noticed, that in Australia so far in 2014, 13 hippopotamus hunt trophies have been imported, where again they are listed as vulnerable. The entire list of all wildlife trophies and body parts imported into Australia since 2010 includes over 40 different species, consisting of 93 hunt trophies and 1,027 body parts. Again, a great shame. African lion body parts are the second highest import at 144, just behind the American black bear, which is also subjected to the practise of canned hunting in the United States. Just view the website 'Spruce Mountain Lodge Maine Bear Hunting', where the author wrote:

… we use the tried-and-true method of hunting from tree stands overlooking baits.

That is code for simply shooting the bears while feeding.

In conclusion, canned hunting and trophy hunting are awful and disgusting, cowardly practices, and must be stopped. Australia can no longer support canned hunting by allowing hunting trophies and body parts to be imported to Australia. I have provided a submission to the Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, recommending changes in the EPBC Act section 303CB not only to stop the import of African lion parts but also to make a declaration under the EPBC Act to stop all species listed under CITES Appendix I, II and III.

I am not trying to pre-empt the minister's decisions, but I can say that Minister Hunt has demonstrated a great deal of concern, and we are now waiting for the department's advice.

Finally, if you want to join our online petition, go to www.jasonwood.com.au/stopcannedhuntincinow. This trade in death must stop.

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