By Michael dEstries, Source: Ecorazzi

Ricky Gervais, PETA’s 2013 Person of the Year, is using his extensive reach on Twitter to rally support for a “Global March for Lions” on March 15th.

The worldwide campaign is meant to draw attention to the practice of “Canned Hunting” – in which animals are raised and bred for the specific purpose of then being hunted within an enclosed area (read: no escape).

From the UK Guardian: 

“Breeders argue it is better that hunters shoot a captive-bred lion than further endanger the wild populations, but conservationists and animal welfare groups dispute this. Wild populations of lions have declined by 80% in 20 years, so the rise of lion farms and canned hunting has not protected wild lions. In fact, according to Fiona Miles, director of Lionsrock, a big cat sanctuary in South Africa run by the charity Four Paws, it is fuelling it. The lion farms’ creation of a market for canned lion hunts puts a clear price-tag on the head of every wild lion, she says; they create a financial incentive for local people, who collude with poachers or turn a blind eye to illegal lion kills. Trophy-hunters who begin with a captive-bred lion may then graduate to the real, wild thing.”

To say informed as to where marches around the world will take place, check out the official Facebook page for the campaign here.

Some addition facts on Canned Hunting courtesy of March for Lions and Lion Aid below.

Read the rest at: Ecorazzi