Arizona restaurant serving lion meat burgers
An Arizona 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 generated protests.
The MSNBC reports summarize that Cameron Selogie says his Il Vinaio restaurant in Mesa has received a bomb threat and more than 150 e-mails from protesters. He says African lions are on the protected list, but not endangered.
The restaurant ordered 10 pounds of African lion meat from a USDA-regulated, free-range farm in Illinois, which Selogie says he researched to make sure they were humane. It’s mixed with ground beef, and the restaurant says it’s serving about 15 burgers a day.
USDA spokesman Jim Brownlee says lion meat is an uncommon dish, but he knew of no prohibitions against it.