Lion Darting at Boskoppie

Occasionally lions need to be moved from one enclosure to another or they are sold to another farm or game reserve. In order to move them they must be darted with a tranquilizer gun and then loaded onto the flat bed truck and then into a crate for transport. Seeing this process was one of those TIA moments, because in America the whole thing would be done by a vet and volunteers would most likely not be allowed to watch, and not only did we watch, the volunteers had to help pull the lion onto the truck and then we sat on the edge of the truck with a drugged lion wrapped in a tarp at our feet. All in all- a weird experience. Dartings can be great outlet for hunters and some game reserves will now even offer hunters a green hunt of their animals like Rhinos so when a Rhino needs medical care they will have a hunter come in and tranquilize it, take a picture with it and then leave without killing an animal. I still think the practice encourages the act of hunting itself by making it seem appealing, but hey it’s a step in the right direction!