Taking Stock: Assessing Animal Welfare in South African Captive Lion Tourism Venues

BEYOND THE ENCOUNTER

A lion cub encounter can be sold as a rare privilege: a chance to bottle-feed, stroke soft fur or stand close enough for an unforgettable photograph. For visitors who care about animals, the experience may feel like a connection worth supporting. But the visitor’s experience is only one part of the story. What happens before the encounter, between bookings and after the cub grows too large to handle?

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A peer-reviewed study brings those questions into focus. Taking Stock: Assessing Animal Welfare in South African Captive Lion Tourism Venues, by Louise de Waal and colleagues, was published in Animals on August 27, 2026. The research, involving Blood Lions and World Animal Protection, invites the public to look beyond what an encounter promises and examine the lives that make it possible.

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What the Researchers Found

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The study recorded 627 lions at 34 tourism venues across Gauteng, Limpopo, North West and Free State. Researchers visited as paying tourists and assessed ten welfare dimensions. No venue achieved high scores across every dimension. Recurring concerns included restricted space, limited enrichment, inadequate shelter, poor water quality, early cub separation and intensive visitor interactions.

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Venues without animal–visitor interactions scored significantly better overall. The comparison excluded the entertainment-intensity measure, reducing the risk that the result simply reflected the way that category was scored. However, this was an observational assessment of selected venues and publicly accessible conditions, not a census of every captive lion facility. It identifies an association; it cannot establish that contact alone caused the differences. Avoiding an interaction is an important decision, but a viewing-only venue still needs scrutiny.

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A Cub’s Needs Extend Beyond the Visitor’s Booking

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In their account for The Conversation, the researchers report that, in some cases, lions were handled and disturbed for up to eight hours a day. They also describe cubs separated early from their mothers and housed in small pens or crates. A few minutes of contact may seem brief to each paying guest, but the animal’s experience includes every booking, every interruption and the conditions it returns to afterward.

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These findings raise questions about whether a cub can rest undisturbed, remain with its mother when appropriate, play with compatible companions and avoid unwanted contact. A photograph cannot answer those questions, nor should a conservation message settle the matter. An encounter’s educational claims deserve evidence, and the animal’s daily quality of life deserves attention in its own right.

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Look at the Business Beyond the Encounter

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The researchers’ accompanying account in The Conversation estimates that approximately 8,000 lions are held in roughly 350 facilities across South Africa. These national figures describe a much wider captive sector than the 34 tourism venues assessed. Blood Lions explains that the commercial industry encompasses different uses at different ages, including cub encounters, walking activities, breeding, live sales, captive hunts and trade in body parts.

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These are industry pathways, not proof that every cub follows the same route. The investigation did not establish the lifetime destination of every animal visitors encountered, making transparency particularly important. Where did the cub come from? Why is it being hand-reared? What happens when it outgrows the encounter? Are transfers documented, and can the public verify the receiving facilities? A reassuring story about an animal’s present should be accompanied by credible information about its future.

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The Concern Reaches Beyond Lions

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The researchers also documented other captive mammals and described welfare concerns affecting predators such as tigers and leopards. Their public account reports 69 tiger cubs used in interactions. The authors warn that reforms focused only on lions could allow commercial activities to shift to other predators, leaving similar concerns about handling, breeding, welfare and lifetime care unresolved.

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The researchers support a managed phase-out of the commercial captive lion industry. Their recommendation is a proposed response to the evidence, rather than an announcement that the industry has already ended. For visitors, the wider lesson is that replacing a lion encounter with a tiger encounter does not necessarily address the underlying welfare concerns.

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How Visitors Can Help Change What Tourism Rewards

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The most immediate choice is to decline cub petting, bottle-feeding and walking-with-lion experiences. Travelers can ask their travel agents, tour operators and accommodation providers to remove these activities from itineraries and explain why. Blood Lions’ Born to Live Wild tourism pledge offers a framework for operators to avoid supporting commercial predator breeding and exploitation, including cub petting, lion walks and volunteering that involves handling young predators.

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Before booking or volunteering, visitors should request specific answers about breeding, animal origins, transfers, veterinary care and what happens when animals stop attracting visitors. Unanswered questions deserve consideration when deciding where tourism money goes. Responsible wildlife viewing in natural habitats offers an alternative, while those wishing to support captive animals already in need should examine independent oversight and policies on breeding, trade and public contact. A rescue story or the word “sanctuary” should begin the research, rather than end it.

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Sharing reliable information can also influence future decisions. People who previously booked encounters may have believed they were supporting conservation or helping animals. Providing evidence without condemnation creates an opportunity to reconsider those choices and encourage more responsible wildlife tourism.

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Make the Animal’s Life Part of the Decision

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The question is larger than whether a visitor enjoyed meeting a cub. It is whether the experience supports a life that meets the animal’s needs—and whether the public can verify the claims being made. Tourism gives visitors a practical form of influence: the ability to decide which experiences receive their money, recommendations and attention.

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Before you pet the lion cub, consider what your booking rewards. Choose experiences that respect wildlife beyond the photograph.

Source:

de Waal, L., et al. (August 27, 2026). Animals, 16(17), 2683.
Taking Stock: Assessing Animal Welfare in South African Captive Lion Tourism Venues