Lion Meat Hamburgers served at Arizona Restaurant.

Yep, you read that right, some restaurant owner is actually selling hamburgers made from lion meat. He got the idea from the world cup games and wanted to bring a taste of Africa to his restaurant patrons.

Arizona restaurant serving lion meat burgers

A Mesa restaurant owner dreamed up a novelty meal to give customers a South African experience during the World Cup. But serving burgers made with African lion meat has brought plenty of protests.

Cameron Selogie told The Arizona Republic his IL Vinaio restaurant has received more than 150 e-mails from protesters as well as a bomb threat. He says African lions are on the protected list, but not endangered.

The restaurant ordered 10 pounds of the African lion meat from a USDA regulated free-range farm in Illinois, which Selogie says he researched to make sure they were humane.

USDA spokesman Jim Brownlee says lion meat is an uncommon dish, but he knew of no prohibitions against it.

CBS News

The restaurant's facebook page had this comment on the protests;

"Illegal Immigration is ok? But eating Legal Food is Bad? Does anyone see a problem or pattern here?" jsjdjn June 19, 2010
il Vinaino Facebook

Is this guy an ATS member, seeing conspiracies everywhere?


This story is disturbing on so many levels; This is legal in the US? There's a free-range lion meat ranch in freakin Illinois?

They say the lion is on the protected list, I guess that doesn't mean much when hungry Arizonians are around.


Still, I can't help but be a little curious about what it would taste like...

:shk:



[edit on 6/23/10 by FortAnthem]

Make it animal style ,fries and a shake.Yes I'll be eating in my car.
Yeah I'll take 2 Simba burgers to go.
Cat Burger!!!!! MMMMM

The burger costs $21.00 and comes with spicy homemade chips and roasted corn on the cob.

Reasonable price.


Hmmmmnnn.....


Nah, my kids would kill me if they found out I ate Simba.





Edit to add: It would be funny if that "free range" loin meat ranch really sent them dog food instead.

Who's gonna tell the difference?

Can anyone find any info on this free range lion meat ranch in Illinois?

[edit on 6/23/10 by FortAnthem]

I am sure there is a farm for about every kind of animal that can be eaten.

Looks like South Africa has been doing this awhile as they export "canned" lion meat.
Florida restaurant puts lion meat on the menu
www.wildlifeextra.com...

Their money will go back along the commercial food chain until it reaches the canned lion breeder in South Africa, enriching him and encouraging his grisly trade. South Africa is the world capital of canned lion breeding and hunting; captive predators, often wild caught, are reared under cruel conditions and then shot for sport, often with bow and arrow.

Oh, Well CNN has the answers apparently:

money.cnn.com...

So where's this supposed African lion farm in Illinois?

Well, here's one clue: When the meat arrived at Il Vinaio on Tuesday evening, Selogie said it came in packaging with the name "Czimer's Game & Sea Foods."

Czimer isn't a free-range farm. It's a butcher shop located just outside of Chicago in Homer Glen, Ill.

Lions, ligers and bears ...

Czimer's website advertises standard wild game: pheasants, quail, ducks, venison, buffalo and so on. But then, sprinkled through the product list, some wilder offerings pop up. Like llama leg roasts. Or camel cutlets.

And African lion meat. You can snag it in shoulder roast, steak, tenderloin or burger form -- or, for a bargain, try the ribs at $10 a pound.

So where does Richard Czimer, the company's owner, get these lions?

The meat is the byproduct of a skinning operation owned by another man, Czimer said in an interview with CNNMoney.com. He declined to name that gentleman.

"This man buys and sells animals for the skin, and when I need something and he has ability to get it, I will bargain for the meat. It's a byproduct," he said.

And where does that mystery man get the lions? "I wouldn't have any idea," said Czimer, who operates a small retail store in addition to his wholesale business. "He has his sources, and I do not infringe on his business, just as he does not infringe on mine."

He's willing to take a hands-off approach: "Do you question where chickens come from when you go to Brown's Chicken or Boston Market?" he asked.

Czimer's exotic-meat dealings have landed him in hot water before. Back in 2003, Chicago newspapers covered his conviction and six-month prison sentence for selling meat from federally protected tigers and leopards. Czimer admitted to purchasing the carcasses of 16 tigers, four lions, two mountain lions and one liger -- a tiger-lion hybrid -- which were skinned, butchered and sold as "lion meat," for a profit of more than $38,000.

His supply chain may be murky, but like the Arizona restaurateur and the meat salesman, he expressed total certainty that his lion meat is USDA-approved and thoroughly inspected by regulators before it reaches his processing plant.

But here's a twist: The USDA says it doesn't inspect lions bred for meat. That's the job of the Food and Drug Administration.

Is it legal to eat lions? Yes, according to the FDA's communications team. The African lion isn't currently a federally protected endangered species and it qualifies as a game meat, FDA spokesman Michael Herndon said in an e-mail.

While the African lion is not considered endangered by U.S. regulators, it is classified as "threatened" by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an international protection agreement.

As for Czimer, his shop is officially registered with the FDA and has been inspected by state regulators, Heardon said.

[edit on 23-6-2010 by infolurker]

reply to post by FortAnthem

Still, I can't help but be a little curious about what it would taste like...

I bet they taste:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/66ae9f9bb425.jpg[/atsimg]

I know, I know, Tony the Tiger is a Tiger, but I just couldn't resist

Looking on il Vinaio's Facebook comment's, I found this a little interesting:

il Vinaio We did not promote this, activists promoted this. You are the ones feeding this frenzy, bringing customers to our restaurant who demand we acquire more lion meat. Why is it you protest Mon-Fri, not on weekends? Too busy at home to care? Using you office time and office computers? Why waste your time on a 1 time special...? Why not work to fix the billion gallons of oil in the gulf or millions of cats & dogs in shelters?

I guess the conspiracy theorist in me saw this part, especially since every other person on ATS is called a "disinfo agent" constantly.

I doubt there's anything to it, but thought I'd point it out.

Anyhoot, thanks for the find FortAnthem

Um, yeah. I can't remember a predator that I've eaten that tastes good. Bear? Bah. Haven't had snake but Crocodile Dundee says it gives one gas.

Originally posted by infolurker


Oh, Well CNN has the answers apparently:

money.cnn.com...

So where's this supposed African lion farm in Illinois?

Well, here's one clue: When the meat arrived at Il Vinaio on Tuesday evening, Selogie said it came in packaging with the name "Czimer's Game & Sea Foods."

Czimer isn't a free-range farm. It's a butcher shop located just outside of Chicago in Homer Glen, Ill.

Lions, ligers and bears ...

Czimer's website advertises standard wild game: pheasants, quail, ducks, venison, buffalo and so on. But then, sprinkled through the product list, some wilder offerings pop up. Like llama leg roasts. Or camel cutlets.

Great find infolurker!

I spent 20 minutes trying to look that up and didn't even come close.

Thanks for finding that.


[edit on 6/23/10 by FortAnthem]

reply to post by FortAnthem


Just great lions numbers are going down all over the world and these stupid ass people are making hamburgers of them.

But I've been eating lion for years...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2489c233e84c.jpg[/atsimg]

What? Lion bars don't contain actual lion? Yer, yer...pull the other one

To be quite honest, if I had the chance to eat one of those lion burgers I would gladly take it. A Lion Burger is the second coolest sounding burger there is, second only to the illusive Dragon Burger.

I'm still waiting for that one.

*crosses fingers*

well I eat p#### so I dont see the problem.

and if this guy really wanted to serve up a taste of Africa he'd serve bugs and dirt. maybe human flesh

Cameron Selogie told The Arizona Republic his IL Vinaio restaurant has received more than 150 e-mails from protesters as well as a bomb threat. He says African lions are on the protected list, but not endangered.

--------------------------------------------------------------------


First off before i say anything i am an animal lover.

now with the disclaimer out of the way i feel the need to point out that this LEGAL BUSINESS OWNER who committed no crimes and was smart enough to offer a cuisine that brought in BUSINESS.

And he recieved a bomb threat from an activist group ..My question is where is the outrage from these animal activists and greenpeace in the gulf? to me its either hidden quite well behind a media viel OR they are being directed to NOT stage rallies and protests and demonstrations by there REAL OWNERS..

seems TPTB only drag out these lap dog groups for a walk when they are pushing an agenda or school of thought that helps sway popular opinion towards there overall goals....

or perhaps i missed a critical fold when fashioning my tinfoil hat ?


~meathead

Really? No one? OK.......

I assume the restaurant isn't Lion's Choice.



Sorry, but nobody else would say it / embarrass themselves enough, so I just had to.


That's all.

...i'm staunchy opposed to eating cat (gag) - but - i've eaten worse... some day soon, instead of shelters euthanizing cats and dogs, they'll sell 'em for meat - and - when push comes to shove, folks will buy it or die of starvation because it'll be all thats available... ooooh, aint that skeery?...

Originally posted by FortAnthem
This story is disturbing on so many levels; This is legal in the US? There's a free-range lion meat ranch in freakin Illinois?
They say the lion is on the protected list, I guess that doesn't mean much when hungry Arizonians are around.

Still, I can't help but be a little curious about what it would taste like...

:shk:
[edit on 6/23/10 by FortAnthem]

Probably tastes like pussy cat.
Since I'm allergic to cats, I wouldn't eat it.

Oh people have been selling cat for a long time. That's why they leave the heads on rabbits now, to prove the meat you're eating isn't cat.

Originally posted by intrepid
Oh people have been selling cat for a long time. That's why they leave the heads on rabbits now, to prove the meat you're eating isn't cat.

Where in Canada are you? I thought that is only in Chinese food restaurants and they try to tell you it's chicken. No offence to the Chinese, I just happen to know a couple of restaurants in Vancouver that got busted for it

And to the first couple of posters here, my little black 18 year old kitty is named Simba. I feel so disturbed now.

[edit on 23-6-2010 by snowspirit]

Actually, I heard someone speaking about eating animals to prevent extinction as people will raise and increase the number of said animal.

Take Buffalo for example. We are starting to see a larger and larger amount of Buffalo Burgers in restaurants and grocery stores (Trader Joe's for example).

I admit that the idea piqued my interest so I thought I'd throw it out there.

One of many interesting articles about this

Peace
KJ

Are you sure that the restaurant is selling lion meat?
Or... were they really selling LOIN meat and the owner had bad writing skills?

How much you wanna bet these "protesters" wouldn't give a crud if it was an ugly animal they were eating instead of cute kitty? Meh, people eat other animals get over it. It's one thing to eat a species on the brink but if he's getting the meat from a place that raises the animals for meat then get over it. It probably doesn't taste that great anyway and the protesters making a big stink about it is probably guaranteeing more of the kitties are eaten thanks to the free publicity. There are a lot better things to spend your time being an activist for than to stop people from having dinner! Like how about fighting starvation lol?

reply to post by KrazyJethro


My husband has said that if we didn't eat cows, they'ld only be found in zoos.

What I have a beef with....did I just type that?....is the fact that this lion was not raised for its meat, but rather the meat was a byproduct of another use, which I would disagree with. I would agree to eating lion meat in general if the lions were really raised for that purpose.

However, the restaurant owner at least made use of the lion meat, which might have gone to waste.

So much of what humans consume is based on their culture, which could be of time as well as place. I have a cookbook which includes some animals I only associate as roadkill nowadays. And just the other day our car was on a collision course with a large, tasty to me but not to my husband, rattler as it was trying to cross the road....it was able to live another day, but I had already been salivating and thinking of how to prepare it.