In general, humankind disrespects animals. This is due arrogance, ignorance and fear. Jay Leno jokes about lion meat – “a roaring controversy”. Lion meat products are a growing trend in America, which is why I have revisited the subject.

If you look for a video on “lion meat” on YouTube you’ll find some with a few thousand views (low) and they’ll be of a chief cooking a lion meat burger or something in his restaurant. Just below these videos you might see one of people stealing meat from a wild lion in Africa. That video has over a million views (a hell of a lot). People are far more interested in themselves. Humans are human-centric. In general people are more interested in their little superficial arguments and relationships that go wrong than the big issues concerning animal welfare.

The lion is incorrectly dubbed “the king of jungle” because lions don’t live in jungles – they live on open plains. The lion has become livestock in America. It is not illegal to slaughter a lion for meat. It appears not to be regulated and I suspect one reason why lions are butchered for their meat is because there are so many of them in back yard zoos in the USA, ill-cared for, and with no one to look after them properly. The lion is better off supplying a local restaurant with their flesh, some people believe.

The back yard lions and tigers of America are a scandal, really. People tend to see them as “pets”. I find it distasteful and disrespectful of a proud and wonderful animal to reduce him/her to a pet and then a burger.

The flesh eaters of America will shout, “what is the difference between lions and livestock?” Somehow there is a difference and it is in our genes; it is hard-wired into our heads that we should respect the lion and that we shouldn’t eat it or keep it in some crappy cage in some seedy yard behind a run down trailer park or whatever.

Putting aside the emotional connection, the fact that the preparing and eating lion meat products is unregulated almost certainly leads to abuse of the lion.

Lion meat products are sold in many restaurants in America. A major supplier is Exotic Meat Market owned by Anshu Pathak. He operates from Perris, California. His face and website are in the picture heading this page.

Conclusion: I believe that lion meat is bad, not the meat but the whole concept. The main reason why I believe this is because it encourages:

1. a disrespect for the wild cat species;
2. abuse of wild cat species and the lion in particular;
3. the keeping of lions by unqualified and unknowledgeable individuals in backyard zoos.

The world lion population is declining. The lion is classified a “Vulnerable” under the IUCN Red List. Are lions being imported from Africa? Are some of these lions shot under the canned lion hunt businesses, an equally distasteful aspect of human life.

If you wish you can read what Elisa says about lion meat……