Gauteng residents should expect more tigers roaming the streets as ownership of the cats in the province has increased due to lax legislation and illegal breeding.
SA has no strict laws on keeping tigers as pets, and while some provinces require a permit, Gauteng is among those which do not. The others are the North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
Eight-year-old female tiger Sheba is still at large after she escaped through a cut fence in Walkerville at the weekend.
And while the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment said last year it might include tigers in its policy on sustainable use of indigenous wild animals, possession of wild cats was not included.
DA MP and member of the portfolio committee on forestry, fisheries and the environment Annerie Weber posed questions to environment minister Barbara Creecy in February last year.
They related to tiger protection in the country as laws only prohibit commercial trade in exotic animals.
Creecy said a policy position on the conservation and ecologically sustainable use of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros was released for public participation in 2021.
In a written reply, Creecy told Weber a phased approach towards developing a policy in this regard may include other big cat species such as tigers.
But seemingly this did not happen. Department spokesperson Eleanor Momberg told TimesLIVE on Tuesday that the policy did not relate to tigers.
“The policy relates to the management of lion, leopard, rhino and elephant ... The process of adoption is expected to be complete by the end of March."
Momberg said it was part of the white-paper process revised and published in November for additional comment.
But the portfolio committee was not presented with such policy, Weber said.
“At this stage this is not in development. Nothing has come to our committee regarding this,” she said.
SA is one of the founding members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 2010.
This prohibits the commercial international trade of exotic animals but does not control domestic use of exotic animals. Instead, it is controlled by provincial conservation legislation.
“Unfortunately, there are no permits required to keep such a dangerous exotic animal in a residential area in Gauteng. This is an issue that the NSPCA and the SPCAs vehemently oppose, for obvious reasons,” NSPCA spokesperson Keshvi Nair said.
She added there had been an increase in domesticated wild cats in the province, saying: “Breeders within Gauteng are now selling tiger cubs as pets due to the lax legislation.”
This means a person cannot own a lion but can own a tiger.
— Annerie Weber
However, provinces requiring permits seem to have a simple approach, with the SPCA monitoring requirements.
“The only law SA has is for the SPCA to make sure the animal is well fed, has water, shade and is in a big enough space. Since it is legal to have an exotic cat as a pet in our country, they would give you a permit,” Weber said.
Since the law only protects indigenous animals, it means SA wild cats cannot be domesticated.
“This means a person cannot own a lion but can own a tiger, which is much bigger and stands at least 4m tall,” she said, adding that even if a permit is acquired, this does not guarantee a wild cat will not escape.
“The pet is in a confined space within a residential area where there are different sounds and noises. You never hear of them dying of old age. They always disappear.”
This country's lenient approach has also led to breeding, selling and reports of tiger hunting, Weber said.
“Our laws leave a big hole. I am drafting a private bill [to present to parliament] that exotic cats must at least be protected like our own cats. Tigers are an endangered species, and if an exotic cat comes, it should be in captivity on a farm, in a zoo or a place with freedom, and they cannot be bred.”
Spokesperson for the forestry, fisheries and environment department Albi Modise said environmental protection is a concurrent national and provincial competence and as such provinces and national government are empowered and mandated to pass legislation in this regard.
"Furthermore, national legislation generally regulates matters that would apply to the country as a whole, whereas a province’s legislation applies to issues specific to that particular province. In this case, the Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development is best positioned to clarify province-specific regulations that apply to enclosures for animals, especially exotic animals such tigers which are non-native to SA," he said.
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