The Hunter

Zoraya will never have to worry where her next meal is coming from. She will never have to bring down a beast to feed her pride and herself but her natural instincts and the way she plays with things, mimics without a doubt what she would do if that opportunity ever arose.

 

My thoughts about having big cats in captivity has definitely changed over the time I have gotten to know these cats.

 

Before I became involved with the zoo, I really had no idea about the plight of the lions or any animals. I was ignorant.

Then i started to appreciate the role of zoo's and started to look into their role in preserving a species.

Fast forward to now and I feel extremely conflicted.

While I agree Zoo's do have a role to play and without them some species would of become extinct by now. I also question their need to continually breed cats in captivity merely to spend their life in a cage.

 

My personal thought is their is no value in breeding lions in particular, in captivity. In the wild lions are great breeders unlike the cheetah who has so much going against it.

The problem lies in the human/wildlife conflict and habitat loss and addressing that and working with communities is far greater benefit than breeding lions in a zoo only for those lions to stay in a cage and not be introduced to the wild.

 

This is my conflict.

Despite my personal thoughts, here I am photographing and spending time with these lions. I feel hypocritical and this is something I am still figuring out how to deal with in my own head.

Done