Arizona Restaurant Serves Lion Burger in Honor of World Cup

Looking for a new way to celebrate the World Cup? For $21, the Il Vinaio restaurant in Mesa, Arizona will serve you up a lion burger. That's real lion meat, not a nickname for any ordinary burger. "We thought that since the World Cup was in Africa that the lion burger might be interesting for some of our more adventurous customers," explained the restaurant's owner, Cameron Selogie.

It's not the first time Il Vinaio has created an edgy menu; they've been known to serve wild boar and, last month, they offered hemp ale paired with hemp brownies. That dish may have raised some eyebrows, but it wasn't a threat to wildlife.

Selogie defends his decision by saying that African lions are a protected species, but not endangered. He also says it's okay because this was free-range, farm-raised lion from Illinois, so "it in no way affects the scarcity of lions in Africa." Not quite, Mr. Selogie.

When animals such as lions, tigers and bears are farmed for meat and other body parts, it creates a demand for those products. That demand makes it easy for poachers to slip their illegal products into the market, keeping them in the business of killing wildlife.

Just because lion meat is legal in the U.S. doesn't mean it should be. "Free-range" or not, there's no way you can convince me that a farm in Illinois is suitable habitat for an African lion. As Change.org's Sarah Parsons writes, lion meat is pretty much as unsustainable as you can get. And, given how lax USDA enforcement is on standard farms, I don't put much faith in their seal of approval for exotic animals either.

"We committed to making a donation to the ASPCA after this, because we are animal lovers," Selogie said. That doesn't make up for the threat to wildlife posed by serving exotic meat, or the support of farming big cats.

If they want to prove that they care about animals, they'll take lion meat off the menu, and if they really want to show that they're animal-loving soccer fans, they'll replace it with a vegetarian dish from South Africa.

Update 06/25/10: Today, the owners of Il Vinaio posted the following message on their Facebook page:

It is officially Friday, June 25, 2010. il Vinaio is no longer serving Lion. There is no lion on the menu. I won't name names but many thanks to the FDA, Associated Press, Humane Society, and Maricopa County for their part and for showing we can work constructively together.

Selogie also says they've made a donation to a local animal shelter and are investigating the source of the lion meat after questions had been raised by the press about the "free-range" lion farm. More than 1,100 Change.org community members emailed Cameron Selogie, encouraging him to stop selling lion meat.

Photo credit: Zigomar