We speak to anti-cruelty nonprofit founder Nina Jackel about an undercover investigation exposing how lion and tiger cub petting feeds a global industry built on cruelty, profit and deception.

'I think this industry is horrific," says Nina Jackel "It's incredibly cruel, completely needless and driven purely by human entertainment and profit. There is absolutely no justification for the suffering inflicted on these animals. None."

We're flipping through photographs from a research expedition into cub petting in South Africa. They were taken during an undercover investigation by Lady Freethinker, the organisation Jackel founded more than a decade ago and which focuses on animal cruelty.

Cub petting is widespread, seemingly undimmed by parliamentary demands to shut down captive lion breeding. Under the impression that it's wildlife conservation or education, tourists are encouraged to bottle-feed, stroke and pose with lion and tiger cubs for photographs.

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In reality, the practice is the entry point into a tightly controlled system of exploitation, one that begins within days of birth and ends, for many animals, in death.

DP: When you describe this industry as horrific, what are you responding to most strongly?

NJ: The fact that it's entirely unnecessary. We're talking about animals enduring stress, separation, confinement and ultimately death purely for human entertainment. There's no conservation value here. There's no educational value that couldn't be achieved in other ways.

What really stays with me...