Captive breeding for the canned hunting industry?
It is not just the brutal death of the captive-bred animals that outrages its opponents, but the whole process involved. In the case of lions, the breeders usually remove the cubs when they are three-four days old. This is extremely stressful for the lioness, with her deeply ingrained maternal instincts but it does induce her into another oestrus cycle making her more receptive to mating. In addition, hand-rearing the cubs makes future management easier and ensures the trophy hunters don’t have to face a wild animal when it’s time for the kill. There may also be a sex culling process at this stage – hunters like to kill male lions – their manes look more impressive in that final photo of the hunter standing beside the body, so most of the females may be killed. In the trophy hunting of wild lions, this adult male selection can have far-reaching impacts on pride dynamics. If the dominant male of a pride is killed, this leaves the way open for pride take-overs by male outsiders, who will
