Cape Town — South Africa is the world's largest exporter of live tigers and their parts despite not having any captive-breeding facilities registered in terms of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This is according to the new report by global animal welfare organization Four Paws entitled South Africa's Out of Control Big Cat Industry.
This apparent contravention of CITES recommendations occurs because South Africa sidesteps CITES non-binding decisions regulating the volume of tigers bred, and that all tiger breeding facilities should be CITES-registered. It is not clear why South Africa should choose not to facilitate CITES efforts to conserve tigers.
South Africa is already the world's largest exporter of lions (and leopards) and their derivatives such as claws, skins, bones, and trophies. An analysis of the CITES Trade Database in the report shows that most big cats and big cat parts exported from South Africa are from animals captive-bred on commercial farms.
In the past 20 years, export permits have been granted for 3,545 live big cats and 34,246 parts from big cats from South Africa.
There are around 8,000 captive-bred lions in the country but, due to the lack of effective regulation, it is unknown just how many tigers exist in South Africa. According to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) Ministerial Task Team report of 2024, 626 tigers are known to be kept in captivity in South Africa, though data was not received from KwaZulu-Natal or Mpumalanga.
Inadequate regulations for tiger farming
South Africa's national and provincial regulations are a patchwork when it comes to big cat species. There are very few and, in some cases, no regulations in place relating to the keeping, breeding, sale, hunting, killing, movement, or trade of live tigers or their parts. Tigers are not protected under South Africa's Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) regulations as they are deemed exotics. Only indigenous species are covered under TOPS regulations.
In terms of CITES regulations, tigers are listed in Appendix I, prohibiting commercial international trade in these species. However, captive-bred tigers can be internationally traded under certain regulations, especially to zoos, as long as it is not for commercial purposes. Commercial exporters exploit this loophole by placing a CITES Z-Purpose Code (zoo) on the export certificates, instead of T-Purpose Code (commercial).
Another of those regulations urges countries with intensive operations breeding tigers on a commercial scale to restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving wild tigers and explicitly directs countries not to breed tigers for the commercial international trade in their parts and derivatives. South Africa, it appears, once again sidestepped this request.
In response to parliamentary questions in 2022, DFFE stated that this CITES regulation does not apply to South Africa as the country is not a range State of tigers. The Four Paws report says that not only is this interpretation of CITES regulations incorrect as it is explicitly directed to all countries, but South Africa's tiger-farming industry is in direct contravention by engaging in the commercial breeding and international trade of tigers.
Furthermore, CITES Resolution Conf. 12.10 (Rev. CoP15) directs countries to register any facilities that breed tigers in captivity for commercial purposes. There are no tiger-breeding facilities listed in the CITES register for South Africa. The rationale behind this, according to another response from the Minister to a parliamentary question in May 2023, is "because facilities that keep tigers in South Africa do not export tigers for commercial purposes. These facilities mainly export the species for zoological purposes, of which the transaction is in line with the text of the Convention". A list of tiger breeding facilities was, however, supplied to CITES.
In response to yet another parliamentary question in October 2024 on whether there are any plans to afford tigers additional protection through regulation and/or legislation, DFFE Minister Dion George stated that they are "still considering the legal options".
Meanwhile, the exports continue unabated.
40 live tigers exported to India in May
The EMS Foundation discovered, via a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request, that 40 live tigers were exported from South Africa to a single destination in India.
"This may be the largest shipment of tigers ever to be exported," says Michele Pickover, CEO of the EMS Foundation, "it just shows the massive scale of tiger breeding in South Africa and it's only getting bigger."
The Four Paws report highlights the recent exponential growth in tiger farming citing that the "industry has increased due to the lack of comprehensive regulations, creating an environment ripe for exploitation". Criminal organizations increasingly target South Africa's big cat industry to traffic tiger parts and derivatives.
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There were significant seizures and cases within and from South Africa for almost a decade where organized criminal groups were exposed to the authorities as being involved in the illegal trade of big cat parts.
TRAFFIC's Wildlife Trade Portal lists almost 100 separate seizures of big cats and/or big cat parts that were seized within or exported from South Africa between 2004 and 2024. More recent trends in seizures show that Vietnamese nationals are working with South African nationals for the procurement of big cat parts for export.
"South Africa's big cat industry is out of control," says Kieran Harkin, Wildlife Trade Expert at Four Paws. "Ineffective regulations allow breeders and farms to breed, kill, and trade big cats unchecked. The South African government continues to ignore existing international trade agreements under CITES which greatly undermines conservation and enforcement efforts across the world."
