Cuddle Me, Kill Me: A True Account of South Africa's Captive Lion Breeding and Canned Hunting Industry

Title: Cuddle Me, Kill Me
Subtitle: A True Account of South Africa's Captive Lion Breeding and Canned Hunting Industry
Author: Richard Peirce
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Imprint: Struik Nature
Cape Town, South Africa 2018
ISBN 9781775845935 / ISBN 978-1-77-584593-5
Softcover, 15 x 19 cm, 200 pages, several colour photos

About: Cuddle Me, Kill Me: A True Account of South Africa's Captive Lion Breeding and Canned Hunting Industry

Cuddle Me, Kill Me: is a true account of South Africa's captive lion breeding and canned hunting industry. Canned lion hunting sprang to the world’s attention with the 2015 launch of the documentary, Blood Lions by Ian Michler. This movie blew the cover off a brutal industry that has burgeoned in the last decade or so, operating largely under the radar of public concern. In Cuddle Me Kill Me, veteran wildlife campaigner Richard Peirce reveals horrifying facts about the industry. He tells the true story of two male lions rescued from breeding farms, the exploitation and misery of these apex predators when they are bred in captivity, how young cubs are removed from their mothers mere hours after birth, and how they are first used for petting by an adoring (and paying) public. This is followed by their subsequent use for ‘walking with lions’ tourism, and, in the final stage of exploitation, they are served up in fenced enclosure for execution by canned hunters – or simply shot by breeders for the value of their carcass, a prized product in the East. Well researched by Richard Peirce with the help of an undercover agent, and illustrated with photos taken along the way, this is a disturbing and passionate plea to end commercial captive lion breeding and the repurposing of wildlife to cater for human greed.

Content: Cuddle Me, Kill Me: A True Account of South Africa's Captive Lion Breeding and Canned Hunting Industry

Forewords
Acknowledgements
Preface
Lion facts
introduction
Terminology
CUDDLE ME
Captive born and orphaned
Surrogate mothers
Battle for survival
Voluntourism
Growing up as tourist attractions
Darkness and despair
Treated as livestock
Major milestones
From dreams to reality
JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY
First interview
A first visit
Worse, much worse
Undercover
Not simply good, bad or ugly
The real sanctuaries
The Interviews (SAPA, PHASA, NSPCA)
Significant activists
KILL ME
Canned hunting
Lion hunt
PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE
History, bullets and bones
Conservation and the way forward
The official standpoint
Acronyms
Useful websites