South Africa has announced its intention to export 800 lion skeletons to Vietnam and Laos, where they are used in traditional medicine. According to Adam M. Roberts, CEO of Born Free USA, “As part of a compromise at the fall 2016 CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) meeting, South Africa’s lions were maintained on Appendix II of the Treaty, allowing for commercial international trade. However, a full ban on wild lion bone exports was approved. Because South Africa has the largest captive lion (hunting) industry, they were mandated to institute a quota for the first time, which will allow some monitoring of levels of trade and impact on wild populations. If more bones end up arriving in Asia than are included in the approved quota, we will know there is an illegal trade problem.”
Link: One Green Planet