Exporting lion bones is killing South Africa’s brand.

So says director of the environmental non-profit organisation EMS Foundation Michele Pickover who said in response to the new lion bones export quota the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) Minister Dr Edna Molewa announced on Monday.

“[I am] completely gobsmacked. The fact that we are actually taking lions and killing them for their bones‚ shame on South Africa. The worst part [is] that tourists will not want to come to this country‚” Pickover said.

“They [DEA] might be supporting it [the canned lion industry]‚ but they’re slitting their own throats‚ because they are killing brand South Africa and killing tourism in this country.”

Molewa and the DEA said on Monday that 1‚500 lion skeletons can be exported annually from South Africa and is effective retrospectively from June 7.

The DEA said the quota was based on new evidence from a research project by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the universities of Witwatersrand (Wits)‚ Oxford and Kent‚ which analyse and monitor the lion bone trade in South Africa.