marketing wildlife

Loopholes Of Gray Space

Recent headlines have been flush with praise for the charges brought against the systemic abuse of lions perpetrated by North West lion farmer, Jan Steinman of Pienika Farm. Dozens of lions at his property were found to be suffering from mange, while two cubs were seen dragging themselves, unable to walk for unknown reasons. A variety of smaller species of big cat, such as caracals were found in small enclosures, so grossly obese from the confinement that they were unable to even groom themselves. The announcement that charges were being filed against Steinman was met with widespread approval, and dozens of articles covering the subject have since hit the airways.

But while these articles applaud authorities for their investigation and the subsequent charges against Steinman, the majority fail to explore what this means, or doesn’t mean, for the captive lion breeding industry. Without the appropriate context, and itemized possible repercussions, the public is perceiving a false sense of justice and progress in the fight against the captive lion breeding, cub petting, and canned hunting industry.

It’s unlikely that Steinman will face any jail time, or that his Pienika Farm will suffer any longterm consequences in the wake of the charges being made. Rather, Steinman will be slapped with fines, and forced to treat the animals suffering at his establishment. It’s possible that Steinman will be banned (it’s unclear whether banishment would be permanent, more likely it would be temporary) from the South African Predator Association. Especially since Steinman is listed as being a council member of that association. And that will likely be the extent of the matter. You see, instead of banning the captive breeding of lions for cub petting, lion walking, canned hunting, and the lion bone trade, there is and ongoing, and immense, pressure to simply regulate the industry in order, according to proponents of the idea, to assure that lions are humanely bred and raised.

The suggestion that breeding lions in captivity is inhumane, is, according to those who support the regulation of captive lion breeding, largely a contrived falsehood put forth and promoted by animal rights extremists who don’t understand the industry, or how to properly manage wildlife and captive wildlife. While the recent articles addressing Steinman’s abuse of lions and the charges against him tout this case as yet one more galvanizing sign that the public should call for a total ban on captive lion breeding, the vast majority of that industry is viewing this media glut as a showcase of how little understanding the public has of both the CLB industry, and the management of wildlife in general.

In recent years the conservation industry has become an amalgamation of of pro-hunting and -anti-hunting entities which both exploit the ideology that nothing in conservation is “straight forward” and that conservation as a whole is comprised entirely of shades of gray. Both sides of the coin insist that anyone who argues otherwise is an extremist who doesn’t understand the complexities of wild and captive wild conservation.

We’ve seen these accusations from both hunters, and non-hunters here on CWW firsthand. Hunters occasionally show up in the comments of CWW posts insisting that trophy hunting (for our purposes trophy hunting is specifically what we’re referring to, rather than substance hunting, which is not something that’s normally a factor in situations of lion or other big cat hunting) actually helps the conservation of lions and other big cats and wild animal species. Likewise fans of entities like Eduardo Serio, Dean Schneider, Kevin Richardson, and even the Irwins, and Doc Antle, etc. all claim that what those entities do, handling captive wild animals, and in some cases allowing others to handle or interact with captive wild animals, is, in the end, beneficial to the wild conservation of them. Although these two factions vehemently disagree specifically about hunting, they both adhere to the exact same methodology, both claiming that conservation is comprised of “gray spaces” and both claiming to rightfully inhabit such “gray space” and both claiming that they’re supporting conservation 100%.

And, when someone like CWW dares to point out that participating in industries which damage conservation in the immediacy cannot bring about longterm support of it, both these factions lash out, accusing CWW of being extremist and ignorant as to the complexity of conservation matters, or of having some sort of personal agenda in “attacking” those we don’t agree with.

The basic inability of those who participate in the exploitation of wild and captive wild animals to view their own activities with an objective and impartial gaze is what triggers their conflict with anyone who raises concerns about them. They have no qualms about calling down others who engage in the same activities in which they engage, yet they are unable to admit that their own participation is also a problem. Rather, they will go to great lengths to justify their own actions, and contrive purported benefits and/or positive results gained through their activities.

In the realm of trophy hunting, those who support it, like Safari Club International, often fall back on claims that trophy hunting brings huge amounts of money into the conservation industry, and into local communities. Regardless of how many studies you cite verifying that comparatively little local monetary gains are achieved through trophy hunting, and that there is no scientific evidence to prove that allowing trophy hunting boosts populations or species in any way, and that it can cause catastrophic damage to species like elephants, supporters refuse to give up their positions.

In the case of commerce conservationists, like those we've mentioned, the primary excuse and justification for their exploitation of captive wild animals is the assertion that they’re “raising awareness” and “educating the public” about the animals they handle and exploit. Regardless of how much evidence you provide to show that the public perceives and retains a different message than the one exploiters claim to convey, they refuse to cede their position, or acknowledge that the activities they participate in are part of the problem. Groups continue to use them of saving endangered wild animals to raise money for Kevin Richardson to use in the care of his captive bred captive animals.

In both cases, it’s a matter of self preservation. If the fans who support trophy hunters, or exploiters of captive wild animals admit that what they’re supporting damages conservation efforts, then their heroes become the enemy. They become the cause of the problem. This is one reason that the supporters of those CWW discusses have such poor reactions to our unbiased reporting, and attempt to discredit or otherwise malign us. It’s the only defense mechanism they can adopt, especially when in some cases those same supporters will criticize others who do the same thing as their revered heroes.

The greatest danger in embracing the ideology of “gray spaces” is the fact that once you remove the definitive lines between conserving animals and exploiting them, where do you redraw that definition? How do you separate what is conservation from what is exploitation? If two people engage in the exact same activity, but one of them has cultivated a persuasively attractive persona, does that charisma alone make them a conservationist? Are leading conservationists really decided by something as trivial as a popularity contest?

Tragically, it seems as though that’s quickly becoming the case. Although similar “popularity contests” between cute or attractive endangered species and less appealing endangered species have been sharply criticized, the reputation alone of popular figures is being used more, and more, to justify the actions of the person in question. If the supposed “message” supplied by a person is deemed worthy, the method in which they deliver that message is being devoutly defended, even when that method involves directly putting money into the captive breeding, cub petting, canned hunting and other exploitative industries that are crippling and destroying current wildlife populations. And the damage isn’t confined to purchasing captive bred lions or other animals in order to “rescue” them.

The captive lion breeding industry has been protected, yet again, with defenders insisting that proper regulation can solve the problems within. Some conservation groups such as The True Green Alliance–which describes itself as being devoted to creating a society which is properly informed about the principles and practices of wildlife management–have released persuasive, and excellently written articles advocating for canned lion breeding, and concisely explaining why the arguments against it are being driven by extremists who don’t understand the matter in its entirety.

Japan has refused to ban ivory, instead insisting that firm regulations can adequately stem the import and sale of illegal ivory, despite studies showing that the opposite is true.

Botswana, according to this article, also by TGA, is now moving to follow South Africa in refusing to be influenced by the positions of non-African entities where conservation is concerned. According to Botswana’s Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism Onkokame Mokaila, the single factor most responsible for any failings within African wildlife conservation is directly due to the fact that “outsiders” continue to “dictate to Africa on how it should manage and use its wildlife resources.”

Private rhino owners within South Africa now control some 50% (conservatively) of all the rhinos in existence, and they have been pressing to lift all bans legalizing the trade of rhino horn for years. Their voices are only getting stronger. And with growing social media commerce conservationists like The Real Tarzann garnering millions of followers and fans by promoting these private rhino owners, the strength of those private owners is only growing. In the video that launched Tarzann to star status on Instagram, he actively lobbied viewers to support the “conservation of rhinos” by following him, and supporting those he was working with. The rhinos seen in his video happened to be owned by Buffalo Kloof Game Reserve, which breeds–and sells–rhinos, including rhinos which are then killed by high-paying trophy hunters. Yet Tarzann advertised them as being the leading rhino conservationists, and his millions of Instagram followers don’t differentiate between a hunting game reserve which breeds rhinos like cattle, and the conservation of wild rhinos, in wild spaces.

The same sort of misleading presentation has seen Kevin Richardson’s #landforlions campaign touted as a new and exciting way to protect wild lions. Fans of Kevin Richardson were urged to donate to the #landforlions campaign in order to help stave off the loss of habitat which is threatening wild lions. Eventually nearly $200,000 USD were raised through the effort, but what Lion Whisperer fans seemed to misunderstand is that this money will never be used to buy wild land, where wild lions are currently struggling to survive. Rather, the money raised through this campaign will be used–as per the information on the campaigns Thundafund page, and as cited in articles promoting the campaign–to purchase the land where Richardson’s sanctuary is located, and will be used for Richardson’s captive bred lions, and other captive bred animals. Only after all of those animals have passed away of natural causes–as much as 20-30 years from now–will the land be available as a protected area for wildlife. Richardson’s Foundation page estimates that unless something changes, wild lions will be extinct by 2050, which is also the earliest that any of the land purchased through his #landforlions campaign would become available for use by wild lions. Yet even when Richardson himself provides these contradictory points of information to his fans, those fans continue to believe that wild lions will somehow benefit from Richardson’s #landforlions campaign, even though wild lions will be extinct by the time that land is made available to them. And that’s presuming Richardson does not continue to purchase more animals for his sanctuary. After all, he now has five young captive bred lions which were purchased for the express purpose of making the feature length film Mia And The White Lion. Those five lions will live out their lives on the same land that Richardson fan’s thought they were buying for wild lions. Interestingly, there is no longer any page devoted to this campaign on the Kevin Richardson Foundation’s website, and the only place where the campaign is fully explained is on the Thundafund page devoted to it.

Screenshot from the Thundafund webpage devoted to the #landforlions campaign run by Richardson.

Screenshot from the Thundafund webpage devoted to the #landforlions campaign run by Richardson.

Another campaign that seems largely misunderstood by fans of the famed ‘Lion Whisperer’ is the #cupforacause which promotes the idea of giving up the cost of a cup of coffee each month in order to “improve the lives of lions”. Because Richardson focuses solely on discussing the decline of wild lions, human conflict with wild lions, habitat loss of wild lions, etc. fans seem to think that giving up a cup of store bought coffee, and in turn donating that price to Richardson’s Foundation every month, will somehow improve the lives of wild lions, but this isn’t the case. No where in any literature or video discussion can we find any specification that the monies donated to the KR Foundation will ever be spent to directly improve the lives of wild lions in specific ways. Rather, it will be used to improve the lives of Richardson’s captive bred lions–some of which already enjoy a trust fund explicitly for their care, courtesy of the Crowned Prince of Monaco. The use of the term wild lions is nothing more than a selling point.

Perversely, fans of Richardson seem incapable of holding him accountable for anything he does, choosing instead to excuse any and all problematic actions. The end result, they claim is worth whatever Richardson does to present the message. Buying lions, and making movies with them, hiring out his animals to be used in props for commercial advertising, interacting with his animals and promoting such interactions, all things those fans would criticize if others engaged in them, are permissible for Richardson because he’s “spreading awareness” about the plight of wild lions. How the conservation of wild lions, in wild places, can be effectively impacted by using captive bred captive lions, to pose with models in a watch advertisement is not clear. But according to Richardson’s fans, it does.

Following the trend of interacting with captive wild animals in order to discuss the conservation of wild animals, Dean Schneider has bought multiple lions and other captive wild animals, explaining that he’s done so in order to “rescue” those animals, and “spread awareness” to his fans. His claims have been readily spread by ignorant news media outlets who understand that they can make a splash with the story. Just like The Real Tarzann (you might recognize the name of the author here, it’s the same one who wrote about Schneider, then publicly lied about CWW and subsequently deleted his own article and scrubbed it from all websites) Richardson, and Eduardo Serio.

All of these commerce conservationists and their fans and followers vehemently argue that conservation is not clear cut, and is instead comprised of gray spaces. Sometimes, in order to conserve animals, you must exploit them. This is nearly the same argument verbatim that trophy hunters use to justify their own interests. In order to conserve the majority of a species, it’s necessary to allow some of them to be killed. Proponents of ivory and rhino horn trade say the same thing. In order to control such trades, and protect elephants and rhinos, you must sacrifice some elephants and rhinos and allow the sale of their body parts. Those who defend captive lion breeding agree. In order to protect wild lions, and keep lions everywhere from becoming extinct, you must allow them to be bred and traded for exploitation by the public.

So where does the gray ever end?

If Dean Schneider buying lions and playing with them is conservation, why not just encourage people to move to Africa from other countries and buy lions from breeders?

If Richardson buying lions and using them to make movies and ad campaigns is conservation, why not just open ranches where lions are bought from breeders and trained for use in entertainment media?

If controlling the ivory trade rather than banning it can save elephants, why are countries like China reducing the desire for ivory by banning it? Why not make all ivory legal everywhere, if legalizing the trade is the best way to conserve elephants?

If farming rhinos and selling their products is what will save rhinos, then why have countries spent millions, or billions of dollars to stop the trade of rhino horn?

Within the gray spaces so covetously defended by those who support them the answer to all of these questions can be answered, with ‘Yes, that’s acceptable.’ if those defenders decide that circumstances are agreeable.

The only place where one can state with a calm, unbending ethical “No, it’s not acceptable to buy and use lions for profit, it’s not acceptable to kill elephants for ivory, it’s not acceptable to farm and harvest rhinos for rhino horn.” is outside the ambiguity of undefined gray spaces.

As we careen toward the eradication of huge swaths of environments and the species living within them, and toward the destruction of our planet as we know it, the last thing the earth needs us to do is make more allowances for exploitation and destruction. If you have to justify what you’re doing, if you have to provide lengthy explanations as to why what you’re doing isn’t the same as what others are doing, if you have to lay out arguments to try and back up claims that what you’re doing saves animals, while others doing it harms animals, that in and of itself is an admission that you understand you’re position is so ambiguous that it requires definition.

Honesty and ethics stand on their own, easy for anyone to see at a glance. It’s not a complicated shell game of participation and exploitation under the guise of stopping participation and exploitation. It’s black and white, true or false. Not shapeless gray and morally ambiguous.

Powerful Women Do Powerful Things

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

GreatHERgood Claims to Support Powerful Women, So Why Are They Running PR for Black Jaguar White Tiger?

In our last Note we discussed, at length, the ability that propaganda and public manipulation has to mislead the masses into believing things that are entirely fabricated, and how Black Jaguar White Tiger’s new website and image is doing just that. Today we’re going to look at the company behind BJWT’s new, tidier and more palpably “politically correct” website and social media posts.

The cover photo of Greathergood’s Facebook page declares that “Powerful Women Do Powerful Things”

Setting aside the fact that founder Jackie Berlowski is posing with a captive wild Serval cat (which obviously goes against everything CWW stands for in a conservational sense) the statement itself is inspiring only on the face. Very powerful women might do very powerful, and terrible, things. Being “powerful” doesn’t make you a good person. For example, if you’re in a very powerful position, but you use that position to support and promote someone who is a tyrant that abuses others at will, then you’re nothing but a stooge to that tyrant.

When Greathergood and BJWT announced that they would be working together, it was, unsurprisingly, accompanied by photos and videos of Berlowski at BJWT playing with cubs and monkeys inside the house dubbed “Stage 1” by Serio. Same exhausted, overdone, inspiring story that every other celebrity touts after visiting BJWT. Go play with the captive wild animals, then tell everyone how amazing the foundation that lets you play with the captive wild animals is.

Wildlife Lion Cubs Black Jaguar White Tiger
Greathergood
Greathergoods post discussing their work on "one of our clients"

Greathergoods post discussing their work on "one of our clients"

The use of "MAJOR win" is beyond coincidental since Serio uses the exact same words.

The use of "MAJOR win" is beyond coincidental since Serio uses the exact same words.

BJWT announcement of BIG (read MAJOR win) renovations to their website shortly after Greathergood's post about working on "one of our clients".

BJWT announcement of BIG (read MAJOR win) renovations to their website shortly after Greathergood's post about working on "one of our clients".

Those who understand the reality of BJWT immediately trekked over to Greathergood’s Facebook page to share their concerns and try to explain that handling captive wild animal is not conservation, and that BJWT is not a sanctuary, but rather a petting zoo for the wealthy and well connected. Predictably, the majority of commenters criticizing BJWT and Berlowski’s choice to support Serio and BJWT were blocked and their comments deleted. Berlowski, it seemed, had already drunk the BJWT koolaid. Or, perhaps, it’s simply a matter of her already being connected to BJWT.

After all, the vast majority of celebrities who support BJWT either grew up with Serio in Beverly Hills, or met him through social events of the same ilk. You won’t find non-celebrities in the field of conservation or ethical conservationists associating with BJWT, or Eduardo Serio. Former animal traffickers, and commerce conservationists selling ideas rather than ethical conservation, like David Yarrow, and model Cara Delevingne, sure. But earnest conservationists devoted to the welfare of the animals, not the prestige of interacting with them? Nope.

Good PR can’t buy you ethical support, just lots and lots of manipulated fans.

For example, one of the new “PC” posts presumably put up by Greathergoods looks like this:

Post from the BJWT Instagram dated April 14 2019 *we have no way of knowing that a Greathergood employee posted this, but it was posted after Greathergood took over PR for BJWT.

Post from the BJWT Instagram dated April 14 2019 *we have no way of knowing that a Greathergood employee posted this, but it was posted after Greathergood took over PR for BJWT.

It’s very poignant, the image of receiving a battered animal with no understanding of the situation, and you’re left to make choices you don’t have enough information to make, a valiant effort by a hero in unknown territory making their way toward victory.

It’s a complete lie, of course.

But in reality, THIS was what Serio formally announced to fans the day he received Achilles.

Tiger Wildlife
Either Serio knew all these things then, and the new post is lying, or he didn't know any of these facts when he received Achilles and he was lying to fans by stating this. Either way, lies are being told to fans.

Either Serio knew all these things then, and the new post is lying, or he didn't know any of these facts when he received Achilles and he was lying to fans by stating this. Either way, lies are being told to fans.

Serio even explained that the tiger had fallen off a balcony at his home, and that’s how his legs had been broken. But hey, a good PR campaign creates its own facts, right?

More surprising than Berlowski’s ignorant support of BJWT as a pseudo-sanctuary (she’s a PR and media professional, not a conservationist) or even the misleading spin her company is putting on established facts, and the rewriting of other information (hey, PR creates “reality” to sell a product) is her choice to enter into business with Eduardo Serio, someone who has repeatedly, consistently, and very, very publicly, specifically attacked women, lesbians, gays, as well as using racial slurs, and offering outrageous suggestions regarding anyone with mental or physical deficiencies.

Berlowski’s Greathergood tags Ellen DeGeneres, gushing about her. Too bad that according to Greathergood’s new client, Eduardo Serio lesbians, are inherently unhappy because they’re unnatural, and don’t have “real sex” which leads them to being mean and stupid. Serio has stated as much multiple times, often ranting in live videos in particular about any woman who criticizes BJWT, suggesting that all of them are just frustrated lesbians who need a man to release their sexual frustrations (or whores who sleep around, one extreme or the other) Maybe Greathergood’s Berlowski can pass this advise on to Ellen?

Greathergood also recently tagged Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington. No stranger to change-ups and conflict, Huffington nevertheless is currently a devout supporter of the LBGTQIA movement (her former husband is bisexual) and has publicly called for more such folks to take positions of power and influence. Meanwhile, Serio has on many occasions in live feeds, blamed LGBTQIA peoples (he did not use politically accurate references to them) for the failings of America and #planetstupid insisting that women are now raising boys too gay and that lesbians are unstable, and need sex instead of being in charge of anything. Maybe Berlowski would like to ask Huffington for her opinion on supporting someone who says things like that about the LGBTQIA community?

Then there’s Serio’s ongoing attacks on women in general. Erika Ortigoza has dared to speak out against BJWT on multiple occasions, and in response, Serio has repeatedly posted her photo to his 6+ million Instagram followers, helpfully informing them that she’s a whore who sleeps with men in exchange for things, and has plastic surgery to look fake. CWW wonders what Greathergood thinks of those post? Oh, wait, as noted in our prior Note, those posts have now had all their captions removed to make them neatly PR safe….

Well, then there’s Serio’s ongoing (just pathetic, at this point) attack on the young woman who entrusted him with the temporary care of her Savannah cats. After she had second thoughts about leaving them with Serio (note that they’re hybridized cats, yet Serio instructed their owner to withhold that information upon import, and call them “house cats” on the customs documentation) and asked to be allowed to take them back earlier than expected (she was planning to move cross country, as we understand it, and instead of boarding the animals somewhere, she wanted Serio’s “expertise” to care for them) even though she hadn’t moved yet. Serio took offense and went from calling her a “lovely girl who trusted us with her kids” to “that crazy Savannah woman”.

After deriding her thoroughly on all his social media platforms, Serio then publicly posted, in writing, that he didn’t even want the cats, and would return the cats to her if she reimbursed him for $1600 USD. Again, let us reiterate that Serio posted these terms in writing, on a public platform where they were seen by millions of BJWT fans, and anyone else viewing BJWT’s social media pages. The young woman promptly PayPaled Serio the $1600, pleading for her cats to be returned to her. Serio, in all his megalomaniacal magnanimity, posted screenshots of his PayPal account, showing the transfer of money to him, from the owner of the Savannah cats, and captioned that photo (paraphrasing here) “Thanks for the donation to my 501(c)3, I’m keeping the money and the cats. You lose.”

It was, perversely, BJWT’s own fans, who stepped in at that point, commenting en masse to the effect that Serio had posted terms, the young woman had met those terms, and yet he was now going back on his word. Many fans suggested just giving the cats back, since he’d said he would if she paid him the $1600, which she had. Others pointed out that $1600 might meet the burden for larceny, since it amounted to a payment in exchange for the cats, and now he was withholding both.

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Instead of taking the advice of his fans, Serio simply contrived an excuse, claiming that the young woman “still owes me $66” and that because she shorted him (even though he’s the one who cited precisely $1600, in multiple places WhatsApp messages, texts, on social media) that “the deal was off” and then he posted images of his PayPal account refunding the money. Of course “the deal” wasn’t for $1666 USD, it was for $1600 USD. But then Serio would have had to “admit defeat” and give the young woman’s cats back. Instead, he lied, and continued attacking her.

For years.

The duration of Serio’s pursuance of the young woman who entrusted him with her Savannahs is, perhaps, the singular best example of his obsessive need to dominate and control everything in his perceived sphere of existence. What began as a mistake on the part of a fan (former, now) of BJWT, and what was a bad fit for Serio as far as animals go (the cats did not like him, were not malleable and adoring in the videos he showed, but rather shunned him and avoided him or hissed) has now been drawn out into a multi-year sordid attack, with an extremely wealthy, and well connected older man pursuing, harassing and doggedly deriding a young, financially insecure woman. Serio even publicly stated (posted via screenshots of his messages with the young woman) that he didn’t want the cats. And yet he refused to give them back, even after their devastated owner paid him the money he demanded. It reads like a child custody horror story with ransoms paid, but children still withheld. Some three years or more into the situation, the young woman continues to struggle in paying basic bills (if she’s holding a job at all, what with Serio dragging her into court repeatedly, which we know he does because he posts #winning with veiled connotations about suing people whenever something happens) whilst Serio is jetting all over the world, to Miami, Milan, enjoying various fundraisers for BJWT, and side trips, as well as now having hired a female-owned PR company to help hide his public abuse toward other women, including the young woman who trusted him with her Savannahs. Oh, the bittersweet irony there.

We wonder what Greathergood thinks about all of those posts? Oh, wait, nearly all of the “crazy Savannah woman” posts have now carefully been scrubbed from BJWT’s social media posts….

Of course, when it comes to making money, Serio loves to play mix-and-match with financials. BJWT’s 990 from 2017 posted on their new website claims no employees while BJWT’s costs for 2018 posted in the same section of the new website lists numerous employees. Serio regularly advertises for donations through his nonprofit, even discussing in interviews (give time count for video) how BJWT relies on donations to help cover the cost of workers and security employees. Serio tells fans that he’s spends large amounts on employees, directing those fans to donate in order to support that spending, but then when he files taxes he tells the US government those employees don’t exist.

Photo, BJWT

Photo, BJWT

Legally, the US nonprofit entity Serio is constantly promoting does not possess even one single solitary employee.

The workers and security Serio has are employed by the Mexican entity, Gran Santuario Mexicano Jaguar Negro Tigre Blanco, not the US nonprofit Black Jaguar White Tiger Foundation. But Serio never specifies this to fans. Instead, he posts the 990 forms for his US branch BJWTFoundation–which again, holds ZERO employees as per its nonprofit tax filings–and then follows it with a pie chart claiming that BJWT’s budget in 2018 paid for a minimum of $423,169.26 USD for “workers” and “security” forces.

Photo, BJWT

Photo, BJWT

But those employees are paid not by the US nonprofit BJWTFoundation Serio is always referring to, they’re paid by Gran Santuario Mexicano Jauguar Negro Tigre Blanco.

To further confuse things, the BJWT website lists all costs in USD, but since BJWT is in Mexico, most of the monies spent will be in Mexican Pesos, not USD. In Mexican Pesos, the cost Serio claims for employees is a staggering 8,009,176.47 Mexican Pesos. We have no way of knowing what Serio pays his workers per hour, but with an exchange rate of $1 = 18.93 Mexican Pesos, he likely doesn’t pay them more and $5 USD per hour, equating to 88-100 Mexican Pesos per hour, which is currently the roughly exchanged minimum wage in Mexico City. After all, this is the same man who refers to those workers as “wetbacks”.

The kicker in all this is, Serio’s not lying to the IRS, he’s lying to his fans who are don’t seem to realize that there are TWO Black Jaguar White Tiger entities, the Mexican-registered one which employes workers, and the US one which claims zero employees, assuring that it’s the least taxed. Serio then takes the money from his US entity, and gives it to the Mexican entity via grants as listed on the US 990 form.

It’s no wonder that with all the donations from fans being pumped into a US company in US dollars (you can also donate in other monetary systems, but if you donate to the MX entity, Serio is not required to divulge those monies publicly. So in theory someone could hand him a huge sum of money in Mexican Pesos, and we’d never know it happened) that Serio’s got enough leftover to waste in his vindictive revenge campaign against the young owner of the Savannah cats, all while Greathergood helps him keep his image tidy.

Then there’s the posts wherein Serio labeled all the conservationists who wrote letters to the Colombian government, petitioning them to send circus lions to a real sanctuary instead of BJWT “Cowards”. After all, the majority of those conservationists were women, including Erika Ortigoza the whoring plastic surgeon junkie, and two were the “frustrated lesbians” Serio enjoys referring to as “Project Idiots”…

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

Now removed from BJWT

What would Greathergood think about those posts? About the faked, photoshopped photos that were part of them? Oh, wait, all of those images and captions have now been removed from BJWT’s social media platforms…

Or what about the young woman whose name, address, employment location, etc. Serio publicly posted (which we will not be posting here) stating that Colombia had issued a warrant for her arrest because she “interfered” with his attempts to get possession of the former circus lions? That young woman had to close her social media accounts afterward due to the attacks from BJWT fans, and faced weeks of harassment from them whenever she attempted to start new accounts because, hey, Serio had given them all her personal information and told them to attack her. And his statement that Colombia had issued arrest warrants for her? 100% lie.

Videos wherein Serio refers to his own workers as “wetbacks”, wherein Serio derides Pepe for wearing “gay boots” and posing with a dog for photos, which “looks gay” when posing with a tiger is what a real man would do, videos wherein Serio declares that parents should be forced to undergo testing before having children in order to avoid having kids born with mental or physical disabilities, all now removed from BJWT platforms.

Funny how all of the imagery, and contexts that would be damaging to someone’s PR, and which represent the precise opposite of what Greathergood claims to promote and support have now been removed from BJWT and Eduardo Serio’s social media platforms. But then, that’s what companies like Greathergood does. They’re hired to move in, and clean things up. We have no way of knowing precisely which images and videos Greathergood specifically removed, but we can know that it’s not possible for them to be involved in the social media accounts of BJWT without seeing these posts firsthand, because many of them were available until just the last couple of months. It’s not a coincidence that BJWT partnered with a PR company for the first time since it was founded and suddenly the more egregiously bigoted and hate-mongering posts began disappearing from their pages.

Bravo, Greathergood. Maybe you should reach out to Harvey Weinstein and offer to represent him while you’re at it. He could probably use the help revamping his image, and considering your efforts with Serio, you could probably do wonders for Weinstein.

You Only Peddle What You Can Sell

You Only Peddle What You Can Sell

CWW has posted multiple times in regard to Kevin Richardson’s involvement in the upcoming movie Mia And The White Lion. Our information has been met with a gamut of responses, from alarm and dismay at finding that Richardson is not the person people once believed him to be, to outright rejection of the verified facts we’ve provided. Accepting the understanding that a figurehead as immensely popular as someone like the “Lion Whisperer” is just that, a figurehead, not an actual hero, is not easy. No one enjoys finding out that they’ve been duped, no one wants to discover that their goodwill, and their trust, has been abused.

One more fact about Mia And The White Lion (MTWL) which might shock readers is that this is the second feature length film made off the backs of exploited lions made using lions managed by Kevin Richardson. MTWL is currently being touted in its press blurbs as “ambitious” and the story described as unique, and captivating because real lions, rather than CGI (which ethical film companies now use) were used in the making of the movie.

But the truth is that MTWL is nothing more than an old trope wrapped up in new publicity, and presented to a new audience.

Ten years ago, the movie White Lion was released. The film came on the heels of the publication of Kevin Richardson’s biography “Part of the Pride” which allowed the two to evoke support for each other, stirring up interest and excitement. It was a grand marketing scheme. Richardson’s biography (despite being disjointedly written, and largely self-serving) rode various best seller lists just like Richardson riding one of his lion “brothers” for the camera, while White Lion gathered three SAFTA awards.

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Few viewers had/have any grasp of just how many lions were utilized in the making of White Lion, the majority of which were then used as breeders for the cub-petting industry, sold, or succumbed to unknown ends.

74 lions (about 25 white and the rest tawny) were used in the production of White Lion. The majority of these lions came from Rodney Fuhr’s Lion Park (where Richardson worked for over ten years) which regularly bred lions like cattle for the tourist industry (something Richardson actively participated in) as well as for sale to other breeding facilities. Although in the movie, and its related press, white lions are described as rare and mythical, the Lion Park had a hefty stock of them ready for use in production, and had been breeding them for some time.

When the planned star of White Lion, a lion named Letsatsi (also the name of the main character) had a mental breakdown, literally walking off set and evading capture until he was sedated and recaptured, Richardson was heartbroken undeterred (okay, he did remark on how his “relationship” with the mentally broken lion had soured). He and Fuhr eventually ended up renting a lion named Sphinx from another lion petting facility for the main character. Fuhr’s own Lion Park had bred Sphinx several years before, and Richardson had already habituated him to human interactions before he was sold to the other lion park.

After the filming of White Lion wrapped, Sphinx was hauled back to his own lion park where he lived happily ever after went on to sire more generations of captive lions for use in public interactions and cub-petting. Meanwhile Fuhr’s lions went back to living happily ever after doing the same. A handful of the 74 lions will be familiar to Richardson fans. Thor, Tau, Napoleon, Meg, Amy, Gandalf, etc. But the rest of the lions (those for which Richardson had no use) have been lost to time.

They only existed as what they were, a disposable commodity.

Only those lions with whom Richardson could work intimately, thus supporting his own mythos, were retained.

Now Richardson has procured another crop of white lions for another feature film about mystical white lions. With the film due to release December of this year, Richardson has already welcomed his new lions to his sanctuary.

Just how similar are White Lion, and Mia And The White Lion? Let’s examine them side by side.

White Lion

  • Stars a white lion

  • Features myths of the Shangaan

  • Lion must travel to land of the Shangaan

  • Lion protected by an adolescent boy

  • Lion is rare, boy is special

  • Hunter is seeking white lion because of his coloring

  • Lion and boy must face down/evade evil hunter

  • Multiple lions used to portray white lion

  • Movie was premiered and marketed at the Cannes Film Festival.

  • Movie acclaimed for using real lions

  • Movie acclaimed for long filming timeline

  • Movie acclaimed for actors interacting with real lions

  • Movie acclaimed for supposedly promoting lion conservation

  • Richardson in charge of procuring all lions used

  • Richardson in charge of all lions and interactions

  • Richardson subsequently keeps some lions for his own use

Filming White Lion

Filming White Lion

Mia And The White Lion

  • Stars a white lion

  • Features myths of the Shangaan

  • Lion must travel to land of the Shangaan

  • Lion protected by adolescent girl

  • Lion is rare, girl is special

  • Hunter is seeking white lion because of his coloring

  • Girl and lion must face down/evade evil hunter

  • Multiple lions used to portray white lion

  • Movie was premiered and marketed at the Cannes Film Festival.

  • Movie acclaimed for using real lions

  • Movie acclaimed for long filming timeline

  • Movie acclaimed for actors interacting with real lions

  • Movie acclaimed for supposedly promoting lion conservation

  • Richardson in charge of procuring all lions used

  • Richardson in charge of all lions and interactions

  • Richardson subsequently keeps some lions for his own use

Beautiful young girls, and adorable baby animals, always an easy sell.

Beautiful young girls, and adorable baby animals, always an easy sell.

White Lion was anticipated to sell well. Directors and producers said:”We’re very confident and I anticipate a very positive response from Cannes.” Articles described director Horowitz as being “very optimistic that this type of family entertainment will find a place in the international market.” He was quoted as saying “We believe White Lion has all the right ingredients and holds significant business for a distributor.”

Nothing says "holidays" like celebrating a white Christmas with a white lion.

Nothing says "holidays" like celebrating a white Christmas with a white lion.

Mia And The White Lion was also anticipated to sell well and has been described as a “family adventure film, shot over three years in South Africa, about a 13-year-old girl who develops a rare and special bond with a wild lion.” According to Studiocanal’s head of international sales “People love titles which are marvelously executed and have something really magic and unique,” she went on to say “We are realizing it has a huge potential for Christmas for holidays for families.”

From White Lion’s About page:

The picture is the long-time dream of one of the owners of the Johannesburg Lion Park, Rodney Fuhr. Fuhr independently funded the movie, and filming was approached in a fairly unconventional manner.

Richardson recalled, “WHITE LION has been a long time coming and was Rodney’s vision, dating back to the early eighties. For me, the beauty of this film is its reality component and inherent simplicity...” And “although WHITE LION is a fictional feature film, and we have taken license on some issues, it is not beyond the scope of what could take place in the wild.”

“In recent times, films of this nature, which are basically fictional animal films, have enjoyed great success,” observed Director/Cinematographer Michael Swan. “March of the Penguins is a good example of this, and our movie is very much of the same cloth, although not a documentary. WHITE LION also has a parallel human element, which is complimentary to the lions.

“It’s a film for all age groups,” said Richardson, “with every ingredient to be a runaway hit. And the cubs will pull at the heart strings of the most seasoned moviegoer.”

“Simple films, such as this, are rarely made anymore, yet these are the films we adored as children,”

From Mia And The White Lion’s Pages:

Director de Maistre said“It became obvious to me that I had to make a film about the subject: to imagine the life of a child who creates a powerful bond with a lion and then discovers the unbearable truth! A beautiful idea: a real lion, a real child, their highly intimate bond emphasized and celebrated in order to carry a message supporting wildlife preservation.”

He continued “I spoke to Kevin about it, and even if he was very excited about the concept, he immediately pointed out to me all of the obstacles in making such a film around this idea. Creating a real bond with a wild animal would take a great deal of time and required close contact with the animal from the moment it was born.”

It was thus necessary to imagine a totally unknown filming concept.

We spoke for days on end and established together a methodology to make my filmmaker’s dream come true. A film shoot that would last 3 years, the time necessary for a lion cub to become an adult, so that the child actor could develop and incorporate Kevin’s know-how, and build his or her own natural bond with the lion.”

This methodology also allows for unique shots and impromptu scenes, usually impossible to obtain on a classic film shoot. Furthermore, this process will allow the child and the lion to develop an exceptional bond which will strengthen the fiction and allow for an inimitable sincerity.

To Recap:

Both films portray the same ideas, the same stories, were made in the same shooting time (3-4 years) Both films are advertised as being unique and unconventional, and both claim to have been made via unconventional filming methods. Both films state clearly that they are fiction, both were made using captive bred and trained lions, but both insist that the intention is to portray “real” things. Both movies were/are being marketed as family movies, with the fact that real lions, not CGI, or other special effects, used as a selling point. This is in sharp contrast to assertions that both movies also claim to teach people that lions should never be exploited by humans. Both movies were made using lions which were bred by lion farms/parks which bred cubs factory-style for the purpose of cub-petting.

Supporters of Richardson have repeatedly insisted to us that the “message” about protecting lions contained in Mia And The White Lion will be important enough to overlook the fact that lions were exploited in order to make it.

We wonder if they also believe that the “message” about protecting lions contained in White Lion was important enough to overlook the fact that lions were exploited in order to make it?

And the next time Richardson decides to buy more lions in order to make more feature length fictional family films, will the “message” about protecting lions contained within those films also be important enough to overlook the fact that lions were exploited in order to make it?

At what point will the LIONS–not fictionally portrayed messages about them–become the most important thing?

When Conservation Is Just Another Way To Spell Exploitation

When Conservation Is Just Another Way To Spell Exploitation

Anyone involved with the conservation of lions in South Africa knows, and shudders, at the mention of Ukutula Lodge & Conservation Center (usually and more aptly referred as Ukutula Lion Farm) Anyone who is not deeply involved with lion conservation is still most likely familiar with Ukutula’s name, and not for any good reason.

One of the largest predator breeding facilities in South Africa, Ukutula’s name has become synonymous with the cub petting industry, as well as with the canned hunting industry. In recent years, Ukutula has begun insisting that it “tracks” all the lions it sells as offal from its massive cub petting farm “in order to assure that they aren’t used for canned hunting”. All of the information which supposedly proves that claim, however, is “confidential” which means that the public can only take the word of a company which breeds and exploits lions for profit, as proof that they don’t actually sell them for yet another tier of profit, to the canned hunting industry.

Daniah De Villiiers (Mia) with lion cub Charlie during the filming @copyright Coert WiechersGalatÇe Films-Outside Films

Daniah De Villiiers (Mia) with lion cub Charlie during the filming @copyright Coert WiechersGalatÇe Films-Outside Films

And frankly, even if Ukutula published the names of the buyers of their lions, it’s not difficult to legally avoid “selling to canned hunting facilities”. An entity like Ukutula can sell their lions to anyone who is “unassociated” with any canned hunting facility, and legally state that they “do not sell to canned hunting facilities” while the person they sold all their lions to, will then turn around and hold a dispersal sale, auctioning or selling all the lions to canned hunting farms. And it’s not illegal. Nor is it illegal, through the above described activity, for Ukutula to publicly claim that they don’t sell to the canned hunting industry.

But the fact would remain, in that scenario, that Ukutula’s lions did end up at canned hunting facilities. Just as the fact does remain, that publicly, it’s not known where all of Ukutula’s “aged-out” cubs go once they’re too mature for either cub-petting, or walking with tourists.

What is public knowledge, is the fact that Ukutula is responsible for the breeding and birth of hundreds of captive lions each year, and that subsequently each year hundreds of Ukutula’s “aged-out” sub-adult lions disappear from their park to parts unknown. That’s their business. It’s what they do. Even the creation of a “conservation center” in the hopes of legitimizing themselves as something other than a breeding and exploitation facility has done little to circumnavigate the simple fact that Ukutula exists solely to breed lions in captivity and then profit off of them in as many ways as possible, including selling them out of country to zoos.

Australia’s Billabong Zoo decided that it simply must have some inbred lion cubs from Ukutula. They eventually managed to import two–which despite being genetically inferior, were intended for use in breeding yet more captive lions–much to the dismay of conservation groups like For The Love Of Wildlife, who protested to the Australian government that captive breeding of lions within Australia offers no conservation value whatsoever. The pleas were to no avail, and Ukutula grew just a little more rich (and attempted to make themselves appear more legitimate) while Australia grew just a little more burdened by captive lions that don’t need to exist.

Blood Lions actually called Ukutula out in October of 2015, after the farm erroneously attempted to associate themselves with the well respected group (in yet another bid to appear more legitimate) In a Facebook post Blood Lions stated:

Blood Lions does NOT ENDORSE Ukutula Lodge and Lion Park.
The Blood Lions team and supporters condemn the attempt by Ukutula, a predator breeding and volunteer tourism operation, to link themselves with the film
#BLOODLIONS.

We wish to make the following clear:
# The BLOOD LIONS team have had no contact whatsoever with anyone from Ukutula since the completion of the documentary and have certainly not given permission for them to 'screen' the film.
# The statement appearing on their various pages is completely misleading: the ‘screening’ they seem to be referring to is in fact a scheduled one with Discovery Channel for 11th October.
# The owners of Ukutula were given every opportunity by the makers of Blood Lions to go before the cameras - after various heated conversations with Ian Michler, they chose not to.
# Blood Lions does not in any way endorse Ukutula, its activities or any of its employees or owners. The full length version of Blood Lions exposes the Ukutula claims that they only breed for research purposes, despite it being obvious that they breed lions to sustain a lucrative volunteer tourism business.

As such, we challenge Ukutula to:
1). Explain why is it necessary to breed hundreds of lions that are not required by their “research partners”?
2). Explain why they remove cubs from their mothers at 3 – 10 days, when their mothers are perfectly able to raise them?
3) Prove that none of the lions that they have bred and sold, have been hunted or slaughtered for their bones?

No one ethical wants to be associated with Ukutula in the slightest way, even if there is no irrefutable evidence of their involvement in the canned hunting industry. Hard statistics for the cub petting, and to a lesser extent the canned hunting industry, remain elusive because the private nature of the industry means that either numbers aren’t required to be disclosed, or can easily be manipulated. However, it’s not difficult to get a general sense of numbers.

At the low end, 2,400-3,600 lions are bred in captivity each year in South Africa.

There are an estimated 8,000 lions in captivity at any given time in South Africa.

In 2015, the revenue for South African tourism (a large portion of which came from cub petting and lion walking endeavors) was R91.8 Billion (that’s just over 7 billion USD)

Despite articles like this one warning against cub-petting and walking with lions (and despite people like Kevin Richardson supposedly using their hands-on techniques to teach people not to get hands-on with big cats) the cub-petting industry in South Africa continues to flourish, as does the lion bone trade and trophy hunting largely via canned hunts.

In 2013 a documented 1,094 lion carcasses were exported specifically for trade in lion bones. This was up significantly from just 287 in 2010.

Between 2008 and 2015, the Department of Environmental Affairs issued permits for the export of 5,363+ lion carcasses, 98% of which went directly to known hubs of wildlife trafficking and lion bone trade. And that’s just what was legally documented.

It’s also just what’s been legally documented regarding lion skeletons and/or bones.

The United States alone imported 7,297 lion trophies between 2001 and 2016.

If you’re still not convinced of Ukutula’s sordid involvement with the captive breeding and exploitation of lions in South Africa, you can read more about them here, here, here, here, here, are you tired yet? And here.

Now that the fact that Ukutula is the manifestation of everything wrong with the captive lion trade in South Africa has been established, what would you think if we told you that famed Lion Whisperer, Kevin Richardson is involved with them? Are you shocked? Don’t be. After all, Richardson’s mythos is a business, and businesses work with whomever they have to in order to get paid. And right now someone who has been paying Richardson is one Gilles de Maistre.

Three years ago, Gilles de Maistre decided that what the world needed most in order to teach kids not to handle lions, was a movie that showcased a young girl handling a lion. Already a fan of Kevin Richardson’s de Maistre contacted him with the idea, and Richardson, of course, jumped right on board. But then, Richardson would, since he’s spent his entire career playing with his lions in order to teach people not to play with lions.

The entire premise of Mia And The White Lion (formally, Charlie The White Lion) is the bond of love and friendship between a young girl named Mia, and a white lion. De Maistre has stated that the movie is based on a short story written by his wife which was inspired by learning that the lions she and de Maistre had walked with in Africa were destined to be sold into canned hunting.

From Gilles' website.

From Gilles' website.

From Gilles' website.

From Gilles' website.

Unlike other, less authentic, (but very ethical) movies which use CGI for animal interaction, de Maistre was determined to use real lions interacting with real children. Enter Kevin Richardson, who agreed not only to be the primary wrangler of the lions, but to teach the children involved with the movie–over a three year period, no less–to work with and interact with the lions used in production. In essence, the movie will not be so much a “story” about the bond between a girl and a lion, as an actual documentary of their real bond.

Now, if you can set aside the sort of mind-numbing facts like 1) it’s not a unique bond if you can just take lions and children and train them 2) you’re literally doing the very thing your movie is supposed to teach kids they should NEVER do 3) you’re risking the lives of children and lions for three full years to make a commercial movie 4) you’re exploiting live lions for “authenticity” in making a movie about the exploitation lions, it’s also important to understand not just *any* lion would do for de Maistre.

No, for Mia And The White Lion, only *white* lions would do. Obviously. Which meant that several white lion cubs, the same age, color, and general appearance needed to be purchased at the same time so they could be trained together, and used interchangeably in the making of the movie. And what breeding facility happens to specialize in breeding white lions? Ukutula! Add to that, the fact that de Maistre has photos of his own walks with white lions at “a facility in South Africa” as well as himself playing with white lion cubs, and just do the math yourselves.

The precise source and number of the cubs de Maistre purchased (with the help of Richardson) for his movie has not been disclosed, but on a now (suspiciously) defunct website devoted solely to the movie, and containing in-depth information about its making, de Maistre stated that the cubs (but only white ones!) had been saved from an exploitive situation in the canned hunting industry. The website went on to say that after filming the lions would be cared for in a sanctuary for the rest of their lives by experts. *cough cough* We wonder whose sanctuary and what expert that might be? *cough Richardson cough*

But back to Ukutula, the most notorious lion farm and proud breeders of “rare” white lions in South Africa. According to de Maistre, evil lion farms like Ukutula are why he’s making Mia And The White Lion in the first place. To showcase the agonizing horror of lions bred in captivity, and exploited by humans, kind of like he’s doing with his own movie. According to de Maistre (very much on the now-removed movie website, but also on his personal website, here) his movie is supposed to combat cub-petting, lion farming, and canned hunting. According to de Maistre it’s this captive breeding industry in South Africa which is destroying lions, and harming conservation.

So why is Gilles de Maistre friends with Willi Jacobs, the owner–and therefore perpetrator of lion abuse and exploitation–of Ukutula Lion Farm?

You’d think that someone who’s making an entire movie to combat heinous activities like lion farming, cub-petting and canned hunting would have some brusque, if not outright derogatory, words for the owner of South Africa’s most notorious lion farm and cub-petting empire. Not so, in the case of de Maistre. Instead, director de Maistre actually invited Jacobs to visit the set of his anti-cub-petting, anti-lion farming, anti-canned hunting movie–a movie being filmed at least in part, according to the now-defunct website, on the sanctuary property of famed Lion Whisperer, Kevin Richardson. And it wasn’t just a formal, for-show, invitation to visit the set.

De Maistre said Jacobs was “welcome to come on the set when do you want” and then went on to say that “we” will come to visit Ukutula inDecember after filming.

And that’s all in response to Jacobs asking de Maistre “When are we going to see you at Ukutula again?” Clearly indicating that not only has de Maistre visited Ukutula, but that he and Jacobs know each other personally. After all, hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Ukutula annually, one rather doubts that Jacobs, the owner, interacts directly with all of them.

Friendly and familiar interaction between de Maistre and Willi Jacobs, owner of the infamous Ukutula Lion Farm on de Maistre's Instagram.

Friendly and familiar interaction between de Maistre and Willi Jacobs, owner of the infamous Ukutula Lion Farm on de Maistre's Instagram.

This interaction took place on de Maistre’s Instagram in November of last year, and while he’s posted numerous photos of his child actress and the lions since, nothing confirms whether or not Jacobs indeed visited the movie set, nor whether or not de Maistre visited Ukutula, as he said he would. But then, it wouldn’t be great for publicity if the two were seen publicly hanging out.

And with the fatal mauling that took place on Richardson’s reserve in February of 2018, (and several articles by us mentioning the upcoming movie by name) de Maistre has apparently already been on damage control for his precious movie. Having tweeted excitedly about how much money was being thrown at him by companies just the day before a young woman was torn apart by a lion owned by Richardson–who’s now spent three years training another young woman to interact with lions like he does–de Maistre went silent for a time regarding the movie. The title has changed from Charlie And The White Lion, to Mia And The White Lion, and the website for the former–which was flush with information about it–has been shut down. If one googles the former title, they find nothing of any importance. Googling the new title provides nothing but a IMDB profile, along with basic profiles on other movie sites–no information on the making of–and a few articles about how it’s been fought over in a purchase war in Europe.

And that’s really what matters, isn’t it?

Profit.

Profit is why Ukutula breeds lions in the first place.

Profit is why de Maistre purchased lions to make a commercial movie about them.

Profit is why Richardson signed on get paid to teach children to do what he does–something he adamantly states that no one else should ever do.

And Profit is why movie distributers have been fighting over distribution rights.

Not because any of them are hoping to save lions, but because they can see the dollar signs dangling off the timeless allure of a beautiful young girl walking alongside the king of beasts.

Its one of the oldest, and most profitable tropes in the civilized world.

And it’s going to keep making money for everyone involved, while continuing to commodify both the lions exploited in its making and captive lions in South Africa.

Lions and profit are the unbreakable bonds tying Ukutula, Gilles de Maistre, Kevin Richardson together.

No amount of marketing is going to change that, or make it acceptable. Not if conservationists, and the public decide that it’s not.

It all comes down to ethics. Either you stand by them, even if it means calling out big names like Kevin Richardson and Gille de Maistre, or you’re willing to toss them in the trash whenever you feel like it’s convenient and profitable to do so.

Which will you choose?

Justice For Captive Wildlife Worldwide

Justice For Captive Wildlife Worldwide

Over the last week there has been an influx of articles regarding the problems associated with captive wild animals being used for entertainment and profit. This rush of attention was preceded by the fatal mauling at the Marakele Predator Centre in South Africa. Not fatal for the human involved, but fatal for the male lion, Shamba, who carried out the attack. Part of the attention garnered by the incident can be attributed to the fact that it was captured on video by a tourist. After dragging the park’s owner, Michael Hodge, into the brush, Shama was shot and killed by other workers after he refused to leave Hodge’s side.

With a salacious video that includes the screams of horrified women, and a live action mauling that meets the public expectation of what The Ghost And The Darkness would be like in real life, the story was bound to go viral. Which, considering the state of lion conservation is not entirely a bad thing. However, the disproportionate level of definitive criticism offered toward Hodges and his Marakele Predator Center, when laid out beside the comparatively ambivalent reactions to the human-fatal mauling that took place at Kevin Richardson’s sanctuary just a few months ago, is brow-raising at the very least.

Despite having been critically injured, and ending up in the hospital, Hodges and his wife have suffered death threats so serious in nature that the Marakele Predator Center has now been closed, their website and social media pages deactivated. In sharp contrast, after the fatal mauling of Megan Van der Zwan at the sanctuary of famed Lion Whisperer, Kevin Richardson, thousands of fans lavished support on Richardson, even offering to start fundraisers for him, and the lion responsible for the fatality.

While the comment section of Richardson’s Facebook post about the mauling at his sanctuary was jammed with assertions that it was the fault of the dead young woman, not Richardson, that his lion killed someone–even though Richardson had removed the lion from its enclosure knowing that two young women were present at one of the bush camps at his facility–the public reaction has been much, much different toward Hodges.

The below quotes are from Richardson’s Facebook post regarding the fatal mauling that occurred at his facility:

“I cannot help but feel anger at the arrogance and stupidity of any human that would think it’s ok to get out of your protective vehicle”

“I don’t feel you could have done anything different to avoid this.”

“she died because of her own transgression”

“Please folks, instead of adding insult and accusation, try giving Kevin some much needed support and kind words to help keep his spirits up. Let him know that we continue to support him and his efforts.”

And here are some of the reactions toward Hodges:

"Know your place, we are not the Kings of any jungles.”

"You murdered an innocent being, due to human ego and error.”

"He was bred, caged and exploited for profit from birth by a greed-driven individual with a god-complex who thought that 'his' lion wouldn't attack him."

The lay members of the public aren’t the only ones to offer a lopsided response to the not-so-different mauling incidents.

While exceedingly few experts within the field of conservation gave any formal opinion to news outlets regarding the death of the young woman at Kevin Richardson’s facility (and if they said anything, they carefully avoided naming Richardson) there’s been no shortage of judgement passed on the incident which took place at Hodge’s Marakele Predator Center. This article put out by News24 contained sharp disapproval dispensed by recognized experts.

"Whether they have been bottle fed from birth or not, lions are wild animals and deserve to be treated with respect, with no human interaction,” – Blood Lions campaign.

"Furthermore, we strongly discourage wildlife interactions as this could result in the same display of behaviour, putting the public at risk as well as compromising the animal's well-being and possibly resulting in their unnecessary death”. – Martie Rossouw, manager of the NSPCA Wildlife Protection Unit.

"The lion's behaviour shows why habituated lions such as this one, apparently bottle fed since birth, can never be released back into the wild. They have lost their 'wildness' and the boundary between prey and playmate is blurred,” – Audrey Delsink of the Humane Society International.

Delsink goes on to state that experiences involving captive born and raised lions offer no conservation value and were not supported by the predator conservation or scientific community.

If these are the genuine positions of experts within the conservation community, then why the gross disparity between reactions to the two incidents?

  • Both Richardson’s and Hodges’ lions were hand-raised by them from cub to adult.

  • Both Hodges and Richardson worked with the lions on a daily basis.

  • Both Richardson and Hodges are attributed with having a “special bond” with their lions.

  • Both Hodges and Richardson utilized their lions in order to “raise awareness” about lion conservation.

  • Both Richardson’s and Hodges’ facilities allowed guests to stay overnight, and both offer “up close” experiences.

Hodges’ lion, Shamba, was renown for leaping onto the bonnet of the caged truck containing guests offering photo opportunities for guests.

Hodges’ lion, Shamba, was renown for leaping onto the bonnet of the caged truck containing guests offering photo opportunities for guests.

Richardson’s lions were memorably photographed sitting on the bonnet of a Mercedes Benz G Class vehicle for a car ad.

Richardson’s lions were memorably photographed sitting on the bonnet of a Mercedes Benz G Class vehicle for a car ad.

While Marakele breeds lions and predominantly functions off the revenue provided by guests, Richardson’s facility charges thousands of dollars to people who wish to “volunteer” there, as well as hosting guests in its bush camps. Unlike Hodges, however, Richardson also hires his lions out to make movies, and commercial advertisements. While Hodges breed his lions and Richardson does not, Richardson did orchestrate the procurement of several lion cubs specifically for the purpose of then teaching children to interact with the cubs as they grew to adulthood in the process of making the movie Charlie The White lion.

Photo credit Andrew Van Ginkel

Photo credit Andrew Van Ginkel

Taken from the Instagram of the director of the upcoming Charlie The White Lion. The ultimate irony, is that this photo showing children who have been trained to interact with lions by Kevin Richardson was posted almost exactly one month after one o…

Taken from the Instagram of the director of the upcoming Charlie The White Lion. The ultimate irony, is that this photo showing children who have been trained to interact with lions by Kevin Richardson was posted almost exactly one month after one of Richardson's lions fatally mauled a young woman not unlike Daniah, pictured here.

And yet, for some intangible reason Richardson–who actually spent an entire decade being paid to raise lions for canned hunting organizations before he began making movies of himself playing with his own lions, which had been purchased from the lion farm where he worked–is seen as an important figure in conservation, while Hodges is seen as a blight on it. The truth is that Richardson is merely the reverse face of the same coin in captive wildlife exploitation. The only real difference between the two is in how they present themselves.

Hodges peddles his lions with all the flare of P.T. Barnum, embracing the exploitation he engages in with cavalier hat-tipping confidence. Everyone knows that the majority of what they get from Barnum is fake but they enjoy the show anyhow, as long as it goes according to expectation.

Richardson, meanwhile, keeps his exploitation subverted by the mystique of his contrived persona, hiding it in plane sight like David Copperfield making airplanes and train cars disappear right before the eyes of enraptured onlookers. Viewers often start out dubious, but end up captivated, and subsequently convinced that he’s the “real deal” even though he bills himself as a magician.

At their core, the two are both nothing but illusionists with differing performances. One show might be better than the other but that doesn’t mean they aren’t both shows. It’s high time that the conservation community removes its rose colored glasses and addresses the exploitation of captive wildlife worldwide for what it is.

Exploitation.

The Truth Hurts

The Truth Hurts

Captive Wildlife Watchdog is devoted to the truth.

We were founded to expose the truth behind groups such as Black Jaguar White Tiger, and others, who exploit captive wildlife under the guise of conservation. Just because someone is adored by thousands of fans–or so powerful within the conservation community that few have the fortitude to call them out on their problematic behavior, does not mean they’re right in what they’re doing. The truth hurts. And conveying these hard truths means that Watchdog is not very popular amongst those we discuss. Yet, we are professionals. We do not snidely comment in groups about people who cannot see our comments. We do not “trash talk” others, or say anything covertly that we’re not willing to say to their faces. And we do not lash out at those who do these very things to us.

However, because we have been directed–yet again–by our followers to Kevin Richardson’s Lion Whisperer Facebook page where “Kevin” has posted veiled references to us, and then also commented on that post, alluding to us so heavily-that multiple fans commented describing the “ladies” who “made it their business to “Watch” over people” and stating that they know what group “Kevin” is talking about, we felt it was overdue for us to lay out a few legally sound facts about this ongoing, and tiresomely annoying issue.

Firstly, and most importantly, when you read something that “Kevin” posted on the Lion Whisperer’s Facebook page, Kevin Richardson did not write what you are reading. Unless the post contains a statement like “Hi, Kevin here…” or utilizes directly quoted text–with quotation marks–it was not written by Kevin Richardson. Like any other celebrity, Richardson does not run his social media platforms. Instead, a social media marketing company is retained to run all social media sites. This is standard procedure for all celebrities.

Below is a collage of the post in question (a memorial post no less) put up on the Lion Whisperer’s Facebook page yesterday by “Kevin” along with one of the comments made by “Kevin”. The bottom photo a screenshot from the Linkd profile of Pam, who is the woman being paid to run all of Kevin Richardson’s social media platforms. Any post on the Lion Whisperer sites which do not contain a direct quote from Richardson, are actually being made by Pam. She does the same thing with dozens of other social media platforms owned by other people. You see, Pam owns an entire company, Buzzwordz, the sole purpose of which is to manage and post on the social media platforms belonging to various clients.

"Kevin's" post and comments, and the woman who actually made them.

"Kevin's" post and comments, and the woman who actually made them.

Pam is not in South Africa. Despite her fondness for criticizing others for “having no idea what life in Africa consists of” Pam, herself, does not live in Africa, either. She lives and works out of Toronto Canada.

According to the About section of Pam’s Buzzwordz website, “We give your brand a voice and a personality, which allows you more time to take care of what you do best – manage your business.” And she promises to “post customized text on your behalf geared directly towards your clientele on an ongoing basis.”

This is exactly what Pam does on the Lion Whisperer’s social media pages. They’re Richardson’s pages, so they bear his name, but it’s Pam–not Richardson–who is creating the posts you read, replying to fans in the comments, and answering (sometimes incorrectly) questions posed by people who think they’re actually talking to Kevin Richardson. It’s also Pam who chooses to block followers who question the Lion Whisperer mythos, or otherwise come off as “haters”. And it’s why (which astute readers will have noticed) other conservation groups have recently been so supportive of Richardson in the wake of the fatal mauling at his reserve, when they maybe have never mentioned him one way or another before. Any of the platforms belonging to clients of Pam’s have been used by her to support Richardson in an attempt to counter any controversy regarding him.

You can check out Pam’s company, Buzzwordz here, read the About section here, and see a list of her company’s clients (notice several well known conservation names) here. Also notice at the bottom of the home page that new testimonies appear whenever the page is refreshed, all addressed specifically to Pam. It’s fine that Pam runs this company, we don’t take issue with that. What BJWTWatchdog takes acceptation to (but have until now, magnanimously ignored, for the most part) is the fact that Pam continues to post about us under the guise of being other conservationists, like Richardson, or Outreach For Animals (the founder of whom is actually quite supportive of us) in an attempt to discredit our work simply because she doesn’t agree with what we do.

Below are a few facts about us, which have been repeatedly falsified by Pam, either under the guise of Kevin Richardson, through the various platforms Pam controls for other conservation groups, or as herself, in hidden groups (we’re contacted regularly to be told that we, and our supporters are being trashed by Pam).

Our location: For security reasons, our exact home base must remain hidden. However, we ARE NOT based in the United States. Repeat, CWW is NOT located in the U.S.A. This is a legal fact. We presume Pam’s insistence that CWW is located in the states is linked to her hatred of author Artemis Grey, who is American. Feel free to look for other Yanks who are completely visible and vocal about the issues of Kevin Richardson, but we’re pretty sure Ms. Grey is the only visible and openly questioning American person you’ll find, which makes her an easy target for Richardson supporters like Pam.

Our Members: CWW is not one person. We have members in multiple countries, literally spanning the world. We are not controlled by one person, we are not run by one person. Contrary to Pam’s repeated allegations that CWW was founded by/is run by Artemis Grey, we were not founded by Artemis Grey, nor are we run by her, though she does openly support us. Poor Ms. Grey, BJWT fans insist that she’s associated with and/or paid by Big Cat Rescue solely to attack Eduardo Serio, and Kevin Richardson fans (led by Pam) insist that she singlehandedly created CWW just so she could attack the Lion Whisperer. Artemis must feel like she’s at a pingpong match watching those who dislike her attempt to bat her reputation back and forth.

Our Agenda: CWW is a coalition of like-minded conservationists determined to help correct our current dysfunctional conservation system. One of the primary dysfunctions of that system, is the fact that supposed conservationists, like Kevin Richardson, and Eduardo Serio use their own animals for profit, handling them, etc. while “bad animal exploiters” also use their animals for profit, handling them, etc. This hypocrisy is unacceptable. Fans of Richardson (and literally every other exploiter) have a ready stockpile of rationals and excuses as to why it’s okay for these people to do what it’s not okay for others to do, but the fact remains that all of them are profiting off the exploitation of captive wild animals. And that’s something BJWTWatchdog will not accept.

Keyboard Gangsters, or Conservationists? Because the members of CWW have been threatened with physical harm, among other things, precisely who we work with on the ground in various areas like Mexico, South America, and South Africa, etc. cannot be divulged. Not only would it expose our members to those who would very much like to see us silenced (literally, as well as figuratively) but it would gravely endanger those who have been brave enough to work with us. To put it bluntly, we care more about our informants, contacts and coworkers than we do about “proving” that we aren’t just “keyboard gangsters” to people who are fans of those we’re working against. Pam refers to us and our members as “animal activists” because in general, activists are seen as protestors who complain about the treatment of animals yet do nothing to change it. As BJWTWatchdog has been, and continues to be, involved in functional, on the ground changes in conservation, Pam’s terminology is only wishful thinking.

Personal Opinion, or Actual Science? The adoring fans of those we call out–as well as folks like Pam, who run the social media pages of some of our opposition–love to accuse us of having personal grudges against their heroes, and constantly refer to our hands-off conservation position as nothing more than a “personal opinion”. This is why such care is taken with every note, post, or article we put out, and often multiple citations are used. Many of these citations link to published scientific articles, which have been put through a vetting board before original publication, or involve accepted standards of big cat care as listed by the GFAS, AZA, AVMA or facts derived from medical and psychology journals. The problem isn’t that our positions on conservation aren’t sound, and aren’t scientifically backed, it’s that those who adore exploiters don’t want to hear the facts we’re presenting, so they choose not to listen, and instead insist that we’re just offering “opinions” rather than supported facts.

Accusations Relating To Pam’s Recent Post On the Lion Whisperer Page Regarding the wording of Pam’s original post let’s first look at the actual post in it entirety. It’s presented as a memorial tribute to Louise Joubert (who recently died unexpectedly. We offer our condolences to her family) but of the 141 words utilized in the post, a whopping 111 words are specifically focused on BJWTWatchdog, accusing us of being “trolls” who “wreak havoc” with “fellow conservationists” while asserting that we’re located “in the U.S.” Doing the math, a full 79% of this “memorial” post is actually rhetoric against a group Pam doesn’t like. And that’s being generous, because we didn’t include the last sentence “Let this be a lesson to all.” into the calculations as it wasn’t clear who Pam was talking to, or about, so we disregarded the line entirely. If one were to count that last sentence, Pam’s “memorial” post becomes a mind-boggling 83% focused on anti-CWW rhetoric, while only directing a meager 17% of the post to actually honoring Louise Joubert’s efforts and memory.

Because Pam alludes to the idea that CWW has taken some sort of action against Louise, and more importantly, because commenters have mentioned activists giving Louise death threats (and Pam has not countered these comments) let us be clear that CWW has never written, criticized or spoken out against Louise Joubert, nor have we ever issued death threats against her, or anyone else. We were saddened to hear about Louise’s death, and while we might not have agreed with all of her methods, we certainly wouldn’t be so insensitive to the agony that Louise’s family is currently going through as to post anything criticizing of her now. With such indignant rage from Pam over the idea that CWW would theoretically (but did not in actuality) somehow tarnish the name of a deceased woman, one can’t help but wonder where Pam’s empathy absconded to when an innocent young woman was savagely mauled to death by one of her hero’s hand raised lions. It’s hard not to wonder, since Pam has posted repeatedly asserting that the young woman killed by Richardson’s lion caused her own death. But then, it’s impossible to admit that Megan was innocent without also admitting that Richardson is at fault, so there you go.

We could go on breaking down the inaccuracies in Pam’s post (buying lions from canned hunts and making movies with them is not “saving” “wild heritage” BJWTWatchdog has never made any statements against rehabbers, unless anyone reading this considered Eduardo Serio and his ilk to be rehabbers, etc.) but there’s not much point in doing so. Instead, we’ll sign off, and leave readers to explore the actual human behind the “face” of Kevin Richardson’s social media pages.

Image by Sergey Pestere - Unsplash-6.png

The Trouble With Putting “E” Before “O” In The Alphabet Of Importance.

The Trouble With Putting “E” Before “O” In The Alphabet Of Importance.

We had a visitor here on Watchdog the last few days. The woman who runs Kevin Richardson’s social media sites (the Lion Whisperer Facebook page, and Lion Whisperer Instagram account) decided to come over and “call us out” in a comment on our latest note about Richardson, and those defending him. It’s not the first time she’s attempted to belittle, and discredit Watchdog, or others (notably Artemis Grey, who we’ve seen her trash-talking on various pages and groups where Ms. Grey has been blocked and cannot defend herself) who do not simply go along with Richardson and his ilk. After an exchange of comments, and accusing us of using David Yarrow’s photographs without his permission (it wasn’t Yarrow’s photo) among other things, Richardson’s page manager deleted her comments from our note. Apparently, however, she was so offended by us and the (wrong) belief that we’d used the artwork of a KR supporter that she felt a little name-dropping over on the Lion Whisperer pages would be appropriate.

We presume that her posts were meant as a snub, but unfortunately, they reveal far more of the truth behind Richardson and his empire, as well as the ignorance and lack of understanding of Richardson supporters, than anything else.

Through a series of “Guess the Photographer” posts KR’s page manager has boasted that:

“Over the years, we have had the distinct honour of working with some of the world's most talented photographers. The incredible array of photos that we have of our animals would make the finest art galleries green with envy.”

Just on the face of this post, the aroma of “We’re important, and you are not” is so strong it could make your eyes water. Add a few curse words in there, and it could be Eduardo Serio going on about how many super famous friends he has, and how his haters are just jealous of those connections.

The thing is, the world’s most talented photographers are just that: photographers. They’re celebrities, they aren’t conservationists. E before O in the alphabet of importance. It’s all about who you are, not what you do. And getting photographs of captive wild animals that the finest art galleries would be envious has nothing to do with conserving wild animals, in wild habitats. Watchdog doesn’t argue that the photographers named over on the Lion Whisperer’s page are extremely talented. But to some extent, they’re also either ignorant, they’ve been mislead by Richardson, or they’re intentionally participating in engagements they understand don’t actually have anything to do with the conservation of wild lions. And in all of these cases, it’s Kevin Richardson’s–the “world renown animal behavioralist Lion Whisperer’s–job to “take the high road” and teach the photographers about conservation, rather than joining them in exploiting his animals.

And yes, sanctuaries need to raise money to support themselves. This is something Richardson does quite handily by charging “volunteers” thousands of dollars per week for the privilege of “volunteering” to care for all his animals. What sanctuaries do not need to do, is engage in capitalist ventures, and endorsements gained through the exploitation of the animals they’re supposed to be caring for.

Because we’re sure that Richardson’s page manager will be trolling, even if she doesn’t have the fortitude to comment again, we’re going to link directly to the websites of the photographers, but not use their photos here. Also, because we’re sure that we’ll be accused of not being brave enough to tag the artists themselves, let’s address that point. These photographers are artists. They’ve spent their lives honing and working on their art, and we respect that. We will not be tagging the photographers directly simply because this is not their fight, this is not their area of expertise, and therefore we do not wish to cause them undue ill-will, even if they knew they were exploiting animals. At the end of the day, avoiding this exploitation was Richardson’s job, not that of the artists.

Let’s start with David Yarrow.

https://davidyarrow.photography

Yes, we know he’s world famous, we know he’s connected to Tusk Trust Charity which is supported by the Crown, etc. but that doesn’t mean he’s above reproach, and the members of Watchdog wouldn’t have any trouble sitting down with Yarrow himself, or any member of the Royal family, for that matter, and discussing the numerous issues with Yarrow’s actions of late. We first called Yarrow out when one of his prestigious photos of a Richardson lion was donated to a gallery known to support Black Jaguar White Tiger. That gallery immediately auctioned the piece of art off for tens of thousands of dollars, and directly handed the money to Eduardo Serio, of Black Jaguar White Tiger. Yarrow knew this. He was there. We’ve got photos of him shaking Serio’s hand, and talking about what a wonderful evening it was. Because, you know, putting tens of thousands of dollars into the pocket of an already wealthy animal abuser makes for a great evening. KR supporters immediately began defending Yarrow claiming that he didn’t know who Serio was, or what the gallery was going to do with the photograph he donated. Fine. To be painfully fair, Watchdog will stipulate that Yarrow didn’t know anything, and had no idea who Eduardo Serio was (despite that the gallery in question hosts multiple artists who adore BJWT, and regularly supports BJWT, and also has Yarrow’s work hanging) Fast forward to now, and here’s Yarrow photographing Richardson’s lions, using a young model who has visited BJWT and openly loves Serio, for the purpose of creating an ad campaign for luxury watches, to be exhibited in an art show, which would have been hosted by the *same* gallery that donated to money to BJWT before, with a new photo donated to that gallery, with the intent to auction that photo off, and donate the money to an animal nonprofit. In fact, the *only* reason this ad campaign was not revealed at a posh party, and the donated photos auctioned off, is because one of Richardson’s lions happened to kill someone right before it was scheduled, so the event was cancelled.

You don’t get to use the “ignorant card” more than once. Yarrow happily uses captive wild animals as photo props (including wolves walking down bars in pubs, and lovely nude women with cheetahs) for ad campaigns and other commercial endeavors, including simple art. Being hired by a watch company to photograph an ad, is not conservation. Neither is using captive wild animals in that ad. Using captive wild animals for a book that’s supposedly showcases dwindling wild animals is also not conservation. It’s just getting paid to take photos of captive wild animals.

In the same vein, let’s move on to Adrian Steirn.

https://www.adriansteirn.com/index

Now, Mr. Steirn has taken some utterly breathtaking photos, and documented plenty of genuine conservation efforts (look up his work with rescued pangolins) but he’s also fallen into the “Lion Whisper awe” trap. Most notably, it was Steirn who shot one of the best camouflaged-while-also-blatantly-obvious commercials for a car ever made. Mercedes Benz, being the successful capitalist company they are, decided to unveil their G-Class vehicle by having it filmed with lions climbing all over it. This is a car commercial. Full stop. The insidiousness of it, though, is in the fact that the car commercial part is center stage, but background only. Instead, Mercedes Benz peddled their new G-Class vehicle as being “the protagonist of a project like never before. Brave, brilliant and dangerous, all in one.” The challenge was (using the car being advertised) to take a photo (in only 48hrs) “that would illustrate the lions’ fight to survive.”

You can watch the whole campaign here. (note the discussion of the lions’ habituation to humans, which Watchdog has mentioned repeatedly, and cited as a huge issue, and which directly influenced the events of the recent fatal mauling).

http://mercedesblog.com/the-mercedes-benz-g-class-as-wild-as-the-lions/

The most painful catch? The entire thing involved captive lions being carted into the territory of wild lions, and photographed by someone who was being filmed while photographing them. Steirn’s photos were used to “illustrate the lions’ fight to survive.” while the film of Steirn getting that photo was used to sell a car. So you’ve got two film crews encroaching in the meager territory of wild lions (the Eastern Pride, as it’s locally called) in order to photograph captive lions being forced to perform, in order to highlight the fact that wild lions are dying. The irony of it all is staggering, and brings to mind a quote from the beloved fantasy book, The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.

“She can only disguise, and only for those eager to believe whatever comes easiest. She cannot turn cream into butter, but she can make a lion look like a manticore to eyes that want to see a manticore. Just like she put a false horn on a real unicorn so they can see the unicorn.”

You can easily disguise the truth for people who want to see something other than the truth, but those same people then need the truth to be disguised as itself in order for them to see it for what it is. There’s no profit in photographing wild lions, because you can’t control them, you can’t structure anything, you can’t cram it into 48hrs, and you surely can’t haul a brand new vehicle around to showcase, while having a full second film crew filming you and that vehicle. So instead, they took two captive lions, put one in a cage, and the other loose, in the middle of wild lion territory, took a photo, and then marketed it as being for the conservation of the wild lions they displaced while capturing the photo. And remember, this is all just a glorified car commercial.

Also remember that Richardson repeatedly drives his captive lions into the established territory of the Eastern Pride which lives on the DGR just so he can “walk” with his lions, and use them in commercial endeavors like watch ads, and car commercials. Please see the below stills taken from the Lion Whisperer video “Loading the Lions” (start watching at 3.24 minutes for the brief wild lion sighting) They drive directly by wild lions in order to then turn captive lions loose into the territory of those wild lions. It’s beyond unconscionable that Richardson is intentionally stressing, and harming existing wild lions, and getting applauded for doing so.

29064345_2101250043431138_8393392497252475111_o.jpg
18839464_2101249940097815_1258245903238940830_o.jpg

Moving on to Jeroen Hofman.

https://www.jeroenhofman.nl/work/?pid=89

Again, another amazing photographer. But also again, a photographer who photographed Richardson and his lions for an ad campaign (are you seeing a theme here?) Hofman’s photos of Richardson prowling through the grasslands of South Africa, impeccably dressed in a Van Gils suit, alongside a male lion have practically become ubiquitous. Consider that. A guy selling a suit–selling a product–using the appealing masculinity of a lion to do it has become the embodiment of a “well dressed man on the prowl.” You can’t even argue that this has anything at all to do with conservation. It’s literally just using captive wild animals to sell merchandise. And, of course, Richardson was paid for it. Also, again, this took place in the territory of the wild Eastern Pride who’s just trying to survive.

Finally, we come to Gary Lankford.

http://www.lankfordfilms.com/photography

Though he has an entire film company under him, Lankford is, perhaps, the least “commercial” photographer so recently cited over on the Lion Whisperer’s page, inasmuch as we haven’t found any ad campaigns shot by him using captive wild animals (though he avidly photographs rodeos, which are renown for being abusive to the animals involved, so that’s a whole other issue) Instead, Lankford states that he hopes to help support Richardson’s efforts to “save African lions and their habitats.” (link to full quote below)

http://www.photographercentral.com/photographer/23514985618381/gary-lankford-austin-texas

It’s unclear whether Lankford realizes that the photos he took of Richardson’s captive lions (and which he’s using to further his own career) were actually taken while those lions encroached on the habitat of existing wild lions, habitat for while lions which he says he wants to protect through his support of KR, the very person encroaching on that habitat which is so precious to the very remaining wild lions.

Yes, all of these photographers are incredibly talented artists. They’re celebrities in the art world, but they aren’t conservationists on the ground. Lion Whisperer proponents often say to those of us who speak out in opposition of Richardson

“What do you do? It doesn’t matter what you say, only what you do!

Well we can emphatically tell you what we don’t do. We don’t sell out captive wild animals in ad campaigns for commercial goods. We don’t haul captive wild animals into the territory of tenuously surviving fully wild animals for the purpose of creating ad campaigns for commercial goods. And we don’t work with photographers who do those things.

Because, ethics. They aren’t up for debate. And in our alphabet, Conservation comes before Celebrity.

Substandard Reporting

Unprecedented Events, Substandard Reporting, And Profoundly Appalling Public Reaction

On Tuesday, February 27, 2018, the often-divided world of wild animal conservation got a fatal wakeup call. After almost two decades of being heralded as “one of the pride” by both his own propaganda, and the majority of the general public, Kevin Richardson failed to “whisper” one of his hand-raised lions after taking them off the grounds of his South African sanctuary. While out “walking” with three unrestrained lions on the Dinokeng Game Reserve Richardson “lost” a lioness who then traveled 1.2–1.5 miles back toward home where she came across two young women who were in the process of getting into their car to leave Richardson’s sanctuary when the lioness confronted them.

One of the young women did not survive that confrontation.

The mythos of the “Lion Whisperer” has long afforded Richardson a nearly impermeable armor in regard to his methods and actions. Despite having worked for a decade at Lion Park–a notorious lion farm which offers cubs for tourists to play with, and older lions for sale to be used in canned hunting–Richardson went on to style himself (via Youtube videos, and later television shows, movies and “documentaries”) as an avid opponent of the canned hunting industry. With his charismatic charm and cavalier confidence, Richardson used his experience with captive bred, hand-reared lions to construct a milieu of unity between himself and his big cats. For years since, Richardson has enjoyed basking in the adoration of virtually everyone he encounters.

After a decade at Lion Park (top image) Richardson later partnered with other individuals involved in lion farms and parks, even while establishing himself as the figurehead, and primary voice decrying such activities. Using the allure of children a…

After a decade at Lion Park (top image) Richardson later partnered with other individuals involved in lion farms and parks, even while establishing himself as the figurehead, and primary voice decrying such activities. Using the allure of children and cubs, however, seems to be a hook Richardson can't quite give up entirely, as he's spent the last three years working on a film "Charlie the White Lion" the entire premise of which is based on the "special bond" formed between a lion and young girl. The main selling point for the movie? No CGI, real children working directly with real lions. The movie has spanned some 3-4 years, with the lions and children "growing up together" with continued direct contact–something proponents of Richardson adamantly insist he counsels should *never* be done. Except, apparently, when he's the one doing it.

Virtually everyone. Both I.C.A.R.U.S. Inc. and CWW have, at different times, criticized, and addressed the problematic behavior of idolizing, and deferring to someone who engages in the very behavior they claim to be teaching other to avoid. I.C.A.R.U.S. Inc. published multiple articles pointing out both the hypocrisy and danger inherent in Richardson’s highly publicized interactions with his lions, while Watchdog cited his influence on others, such as Eduardo Serio, of Black Jaguar White Tiger, who was inspired by Richardson’s activity, and followed in his steps, creating a Foundation wherein he handles and plays with big cats. Such articles were repeatedly met by outrage that anyone would dare criticize Richardson, who has been touted as “the face of conservation”.

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s fatal mauling Watchdog, utilizing firsthand information from contacts in South Africa, issued an article addressing the tragic situation in the same forthright manner we always do. Our article listed a number of verified facts which are not wildly known by Richardson’s adoring public, such as how when he famously “walks” with his lions, he’s doing so on the Dinokeng Game Reserve, which is inhabited by wild lions. Those lions are suffering for the encroachment, which has caused a history of under-publicized conflicts with others living on the borders of the DGR.

We covered a great deal of other important information in that first article, which you can read here.

When we published that first article we did so understanding that we were likely going to be the first group to call out Richardson for his many issues which led to the avoidable death of an innocent young woman. What we didn’t realize was that we would end up being the only group to address Richardson’s burden of responsibility in creating the situation that resulted in this young woman’s death. If Richardson did not take his lions off the grounds of his own sanctuary in order to “walk” unrestrained, and unconfined on the land of the DGR, the family of this fatally mauled young woman would not be currently planning her funeral.

It genuinely is as simple as that.

Since the publication of our article, we’ve been gobsmacked by the utter ineptitude of media outlets across the board, and across the globe, in their coverage of such a high profile event as a fatal mauling carried out by one of the “Lion Whisperer’s” own “pride” members. Apparently nabbing a few hundred clicks simply by producing an “article” about the incident was the only interest of most outlets, who offered nor more than the statement that a young woman had been mauled, along with a copied and pasted blurb from Richardson’s social media accounts. For those outlets who hoped to garner a more profound reaction, article titles were altered to focus on the emotional devastation caused by the young woman’s death. Not the emotional devastation of her family and friends, but that of Kevin Richardson, the famed “Lion Whisperer”. Because, let’s be honest, Richardson is a household name due to his lions and his apparent ability to function within their social structure as “one of the pride”. Now the worlds idealistic fantasy of the “Lion Whisperer’s” Peaceable Kingdom has been forever shattered. Obviously that’s the real tragedy here.

At least that seems to be the real tragedy for the hundreds of thousands of “Lion Whisperer” fans. On our own article, Watchdog has seen a jaw-dropping amount of malice directed entirely toward, not the man who turned hand-raised lions loose in a wild reserve, not even the lioness habituated to associating humans with food rewards, but rather toward a young woman who’s life was ripped from her amidst a violent fray of blood splatter and red South African dust.

According to the comments on our first article (at the drafting of this article) 104 comments and responses out of 279 involved stating that Richardson was not responsible at all, deriding the dead young woman as stupid, or accusations that Watchdog had fabricated evidence/facts and/or was “jealous” of Richardson’s fame and “had an agenda” against him. 104 out of 279. Roughly 38% of the comments were devoted to insisting that the supposed big cat expert in charge of the lioness was not actually responsible for what the lioness did, and insinuating that a dead woman deserves to be dead or that the entire article was a lie designed to somehow frame Richardson out of malice.

The worst part? Over here on Watchdog, we got off easy in regard to the public’s ignorant condemnation of the innocent woman who lost her life. Over on CNN, for example, (as of the drafting of this article(477 out of 538 comments and responses outright stated that the victim was 100% at fault for her own death, that she deserved to die, and/or made fun of the victim for being mauled to death. 477 comments and responses out of 538. A full 88.6% of people who commented were glad that the victim was dead. And of that 88.6% not one displayed any actual understanding of what took place on February 27, 2018. 477 out of 538 comments on a news article portrayed no evidence that the person leaving the comment grasped facts such as a lion which had been born in captivity and raised by hand, and trained by Kevin Richardson had been turned loose on a wild game reserve, and subsequently attacked and killed a young woman. *It should be noted as per reports given by a police spokesperson, we now know that these young women had not even gotten to their car in order to leave. They were in the process of walking to their car (in the camp, which was presumably secure) when they were attacked from behind by the lioness.

This gross ignorance and misunderstanding of how game reserves work, and how Richardson himself operates is directly linked to poor reporting on the part of news agencies, and, much more troubling, the underlying failures of conservation groups to convey and promote a unified ideology in regard to human interaction with wild, and captive wild animals. Even within the heinously callus jokes which are being made regarding the victim of this attack, the public’s confusion over human interaction with wild and captive wild animals is evident. Commenters thinking themselves witty jabbed puns such as “guess she didn’t whisper loud enough” and “just because he’s one of the pride, doesn’t mean she was”. These members of the public are, quite literally, insulting a dead woman for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and getting killed by a captive lion, while reinforcing the idea that it’s acceptable for the man who was supposed to be in charge of that lion, and failed, to interact with the lion directly. They’re saying that the civilian deserved to die for being in proximity with the lion, while commending Richardson for raising that lion to expect proximity with humans, namely, Richardson himself. And these commenters don’t see the hypocrisy as a problem, because, well, frankly, for the last decade and a half, the conservation community, and commercial television have told them that this hypocrisy is perfectly acceptable, because Richardson is “special”.

Meanwhile, down in Mexico at Black Jaguar White Tiger, Eduardo Serio indulged in his own hypocrisy regarding big cat management, by poking fun at both the death of this young woman, and Richardson’s statement about her death. During a live feed on Friday afternoon, someone watching made the mistake of asking why the lion cubs running around Serio’s bedroom were running around his bedroom instead of being raised in a proper sanctuary setting. Serio’s response can be heard here, but we’ll directly quote it in text below. It reads a little strangely, as Serio has a habit of repeating words, which is just part of his linguistically “fingerprint”.

“These imbeciles think that they can insult me by saying ‘Why, why aren’t aren’t they in a sanctuary?’ So they envision these guys, they think outside in the wild at this age are hunting for gazelles and antelopes.” *laughs* “Heeeey. An impala, chasing an impala for a mile and a half. That’s how they envision this.” *laugh again* After turning away from the speaker Serio can be heard murmuring “I’m so evil, in my comments, I’m sorry”. He then turns back to the speaker, and more loudly continues, “That’s all I’m going to say about impalas.”

Because, hey, nothing justifies raising lion cubs in your house like making fun of a dead woman, and the public statement regarding that dead woman made by the guy who inspired you to create your exploitative Foundation. Back when Serio first started promoting BJWT, he referred to himself as “The Mexican Lion Whisperer” and BJWT as “The Mexican Serengeti”. Three years later Serio’s dropped all pretenses of keeping his big cats in even a remotely Serengeti-like setting, and continues to hand-raise them in his closet, and poke fun at Richardson’s current fatal incident predicament. As long as the world of conservation remains divided over the issue of whether or not it’s acceptable for “special people” with “special bonds” to handle their captive wild animals, folks like Serio are going to keep big cats in their closets and receive criticism, while folks like Richardson are going to “walk with lions” and be revered for it.

And, back in reality, people like the family of this innocent victim of the conservation controversy are going to keep mopping up the aftermath, while reporters are going to keep covering the issue with mediocre explanations that only serve to further muddle the situation.

*BJWTWatchdog is updating our article to coincide with the most current facts we’ve been given. As the young women involved with this mauling had not even reached their car in their attempt to leave the sanctuary camp THE YOUNG WOMEN ARE BOTH ENTIRELY INNOCENT OF ANY BEHAVIOR THAT MY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS INCIDENT.

BJWTWatchdog stipulates that Richardson is deeply affected by this, and distressed by the victim’s death. We have never suggested otherwise, nor have we ever suggested that Richardson intended for anyone to be harmed. Therefore we will also not entertain comments stating that Richardson never meant for anyone to die, as it’s inferred that he never intended such to happen.

Edorsments Do Not An Expert Make

Edorsments Do Not An Expert Make

Virtually everyone has seen Matthew McConaughey's bizarre and sometimes completely pointless Lincoln commercials. They’ve been fodder for SNL, and a plethora of memes, and online jokes. And yet, sales of Lincoln vehicles leapt 25% instantly upon the release of McConaughey’s first commercial for them, and their sales rates have continued to climb. This, in a nutshell, is the entire purpose behind celebrity endorsements: to boost sales, and public awareness of a product. It’s kind of a big thing. Big enough that the Federal Trade Commission has outlines regarding it, including nonprofits who used celebrities to advertise themselves. (Of course, it’s trickier for the US FTC to exert any sway over a nonprofit in another country like, say *ahem* Mexico).

If you were purchasing a vehicle, however, you wouldn’t buy one simply because you saw Matthew McConaughey advertise it. After all, McConaughey is an actor, not a professional mechanic, or engineer. You’d look up professionally published reports on Lincoln cars, crash tests, mileage tests, you’d check consumer reports, and probably look up actual feedback from owners of Lincoln vehicles.

The public adores celebrities, and when those celebrities tout a product, or Instagram a clothing designer, or other “little person” it creates what’s called “Buzz Marketing”. This “buzz” generates a huge amount of attention for whatever, or whoever, is being discussed, or posted about. Instagram is currently the leader in 'buzz marketing” with established celebrities getting as much as $300,000.00 per post where a product is named. But, that said, Kim Kardashian listing what she takes to alleviate morning sickness does not make her a medical expert. Cristiano Ronaldo’s posts about TAG Heuer doesn’t make him a watch craftsmen. And Kylie Jenner’s posts touting Puma’s Fierce Trainer does not, in fact, make Jenner a fitness expert.

But here’s where the disconnect comes in.

While the public would never declare any of the celebrities mentioned here as “experts” in the fields of industry from whence the products they’re selling come, that same public looks at Paris Hilton smothering a week-old tiger cub with kisses, and instantly declares the place behind that interaction–Black Jaguar White Tiger–the bestest most amazing and perfect sanctuary in the world, and they declare Eduardo Serio the smartest big cat expert on the planet. Because, you know, Paris Hilton said so! Eduardo Serio claims to have very few “celebrities” visit BJWT, but the fact is, dozens and dozens of celebrities from all across the public arena have gone to BJWT, played with the never-ending stream of “rescued” big cat cubs, and subsequently posted those exploits all over their social media accounts creating, you guessed it, “buzz marketing” for BJWT.

Absurdly, and perversely, Serio himself, has repeatedly used the popularity of BJWT as a foil for the fact that the foundation has no actual basis of expertise or functional knowledge of big cat biology, or husbandry. In Eddie’s own words (paraphrased) “With 5 million friends, how can we not be experts?” Really? That’s like saying “With 10,000 miles of driving experience, how can I not be a Formula 1 driver?” Well, honey, because you’ve never been trained to drive a race car.

But having a big mouth, and lots of celebrity friends (let’s not forget, many of these celebrities were Serio’s neighbors and party-buddies back in old LA) does not make you an expert on something you’ve never received even remedial training in. Serio continues to flaunt his own ignorance and lack of scientific knowledge on a daily basis. In just the last week, he’s posted a photo of himself “wearing” a highly endangered species of bird, in a house, on his head, like an avant garde hat. He’s posted another specimen of the same species–which he claims to single-handedly be bringing back from the brink of extinction–in his personal closet, along with a lion cub. Because, you know, endangered birds, and lion cubs, no way that could go wrong and end in injury to the highly endangered bird. Then just today, he posted a video of himself, in his bathrobe, no less, improperly bottle feeding a lion cub. You’d think that three years of aspiration induced pneumonia, some cases of which have resulted in death of the cubs, would have taught him the hard way to just lay the cubs on their stomach–like every big cat husbandry guideline states should be done–but nope. Dear old Papa Bear is going to just keep doing it his way. Pneumonia and all.

Which brings us back to celebrity endorsements.

If you wouldn’t buy a car just because you saw a celebrity advertising it, why would you support a group that promotes keeping wild animals as pets just because you saw a celebrity visit and treat the cats like pets?

Seriously, think about it. Then do a few Google searches looking for BJWT endorsements from anyone who qualifies as a bonafide big cat expert in the conservation industry. You won’t find any, because no established big cat expert will ever endorse what Eddie’s doing. Hell, even Kevin Richardson, the famed Lion Whisperer, won’t support BJWT, despite that Serio has publicly cited Kevin as his inspiration. So we’re right back to McConaughey selling us Lincoln cars. The question is, are you going to research your vehicle? Or buy it because you saw McConaughey drive it?