Lions and tigers being farmed for traditional medicine


The demand for traditional medicine is fueling a boom in big cat farms in South Africa and Asia. Our investigation exposes the cruelty lions and tigers face

Many of these animals will only ever see the world through metal bars; they will only ever feel hard concrete beneath their paws.


Read the executive summary of our report here.

Suffering at every step



A facility in China which houses around 280 big cats in cages.

At big cat farms in South Africa, lion and tiger cubs are born into a life of exploitation. Some are snatched from their mothers in the wild, while most are conceived at speed breeding facilities. In South Africa, the cats often start their lives on petting farms, where they’re used as entertainment for paying visitors.

Juvenile lions are often also used for "walking with lions" tourist experiences.

Their lives then take a deadly turn as they are moved to game farms for canned hunting. Skins and heads are taken as trophies, and bones are legally exported as part of the "skeleton quota," which is unique to South Africa. 

Image: Anonymous, Blood Lions. Male lions at a South African tourist venue. 

Unnatural breeding



Image: Anonymous, Blood Lions. Lion cubs born with deformed paws through captive in-breeding at unscrupulous facilities.

Awful conditions

In China’s big cat facilities, which resemble factory farms, tigers are kept in cages measuring approximately 13x23 feet. In the wild, these tigers would have a 5-60 mile territory to roam.

When subjected to the unnatural conditions present at farms in both China and South Africa, tigers and lions often perform abnormal behaviors due to poor welfare. This includes pacing back and forth for hours and biting their own limbs and tails.

Our global wildlife and veterinary advisor Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach said: “Does the life of an animal mean nothing at all? These big cats are exploited for greed and money, and they suffer immensely at each stage of their lives. Many of these animals will only ever see the world through metal bars; they will only ever feel hard concrete beneath their paws.”

Attitudes towards traditional medicine

  • In Vietnam, four out of five people (89%) believe in bogus medical products made from tigers and lions
  • Of those that consume these products in Vietnam, almost 9 out of 10 people (84%) prefer big cat products from animals caught in the wild rather than farmed
  • In China, more than two out of five people (40%) surveyed had used drugs or health products containing big cat products
  • Over half (55%) of Chinese consumers preferred their big cat products to be sourced from the wild



Ending cruel traditional medicine


Click here to read our full report, "Trading cruelty - how captive big cat farming fuels the traditional Asian medicine industry."

Top image credit: Anonymous/Blood Lions