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The South African Police Service (SAPS) arrested Vietnamese wildlife trafficker Nguyen Huu Tao and his associate, Nico Scoltz, for allegedly attempting to illegally sell lions in the Free State on July 11, 2024.
The SAPS acted on intelligence from international Hague-based organisation, the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC). Nguyen offered to sell six lions to undercover operatives. He introduced them to Scoltz, who took them to a farm in the Free State where the lions were kept.
The WJC was created in 2015 to hold governments accountable for failing to address wildlife crime.
“Following the transaction, SAPS, in collaboration with other law enforcement units, arrested the two suspects in North West province and seized their vehicle, a firearm and 50 rounds of ammunition,” a statement by WJC said.
It added that Nguyen and Scoltz “have been charged with contravention of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004, conspiracy to commit an offense, and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition. The two suspects have been remanded in custody pending their first appearance in court”.
Olivia Swaak-Goldman, executive director of the WJC, stated that the development was important as South Africa moved towards closing down commercial lion farms and taking action against criminal activities connected to them.
Wild lion populations have dropped by more than 40 per cent in the last two decades, largely due to habitat loss, poaching & illegal trade, according to the United Nations.
The species is currently listed as Vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
“In some parts of Africa, especially in West Africa, lions are declining at a rate that qualifies them as “Endangered”,” the WJC statement noted.
There are around 23,000 adult and subadult lions in Africa and 670 adult and subadult lions in India’s Gir forest, according to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
Meanwhile, South Africa also has been home to the world’s largest captive lion population, estimated to be around 8,000 individuals. These have been used in “canned” trophy hunting (where the lions are hunted in small enclosures with no chance of escape). Lion bones have also been increasingly used as substitutes for those of tigers in traditional Asian medicine in countries like China and Vietnam.
“In a promising decision for lions earlier this year, the South African government approved a policy position to close captive lion facilities and end commercial exploitation of lions and “canned” hunts,” the WJC stated.