Boca Tacos y Tequila, a Tucson Tex-Mex restaurant has sold all kinds of exotic meats, including: alligator, python and turtle tacos and now lion meat.
The owner, Bryan Mazon, says he has received hundreds of phone calls, "I'm getting more calls to tell me to go to hell and drop dead, but there's an interest out there,"saying he's received nine orders so far for the tacos, which he plans to sell for $8.75 a piece.
We checked out their Facebook page and as expected their was a lot of hysteria from people who oppose the lion tacos, but it sounds interesting to us.
We just might go in person and have a few tacos ourselves.
"From what I understand these are all farm raised in the USA for consumption. We serve exotic meats. We didn't go looking to serve lion, but it became available to us through a vendor."
The World Wildlife Fund says African lions, unlike tigers, are not an endangered species and are legally allowed to be raised on farms and sold for meat.
"Lions are not endangered. When bred in captivity, their meat is allowed to be traded. There are particular operations in the U.S. that are breeding lions, butchering them and selling them for meat," said Crawford Allan, regional director for TRAFFIC - the regional office of the largest international wildlife trade monitoring program.
So, if these companies comply with international treaties, federal regulations and USDA standards, they can legally raise and butcher lions, Allan said.
The restaurant has real interest in selling lion tacos but their hasn't been a lot of interest so far.
The restaurant has real interest in selling lion tacos but their hasn't been a lot of interest so far.
"It really depends on how the orders turn out. If there's enough interest, we'll go ahead with it. This is what we do. If people want it, we'll serve it," he said.
