| Hunters take out Kruger's animals |
| Conservation News |
| Sunday, 10 May 2009 01:00 |
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Trophy hunters are killing the animals that attract the more than 1.39 million South African and international tourists to the Kruger National Park each year. Hunting quotas in provincial and private reserves that share unfenced boundaries with South Africa's premier national park have reached an all-time high, and two new big game trophy-hunting concessions have been awarded in Limpopo in the past nine months. A new hunting concession offering elephant, buffalo and lion trophies has also been awarded in Mozambique on the eastern border of Kruger. Proposed quotas for 2008/2009 allowed for at least 70 elephants, 174 buffaloes, seven white rhinos, two lions and several other species to be hunted in provincial and private reserves that share unfenced boundaries with Kruger. Animals move freely between Kruger and the Makuya and Mthimkulu provincial reserves, both of which have been opened to hunting recently, as well as the exclusive Associated Private Nature Reserves (Timbavati, Klaserie, Umbabat and Balule), where hunting has been allowed since the 1990s. Trophy hunting is illegal in South Africa's national parks. The 16 000ha Makuya Nature Reserve borders Kruger south of Pafuri Gate and the Mthimkulu Nature Reserve borders the park north of Phalaborwa. Both reserves were the subject of land claims and are run by the Limpopo provincial government in conjunction with local communities. Wanda Mkutshulwa, the head of corporate communications for South African National Parks, said in a written response to questions from The Sunday Independent that the Associated Private Nature Reserves had a proposed "hunting offtake" for this year that included 55 elephants, 144 buffaloes, seven white rhinos, two lions, 5 003 impalas, three hippos, one leopard, seven zebras and six warthogs. Last year, Makuya Nature Reserve had a quota of five elephants and 10 buffaloes, and Mthimkulu had a quota of 10 elephants, 20 buffaloes and six hippos. Nyala, waterbuck and kudu are hunted in Makuya and Mthimkulu. Mkutshulwa said the Protected Areas Act recognised that hunting was an acceptable form of sustainable use of natural resources. Asked if hunters were using Kruger as a source of hunting stock, Mkutshulwa said: "It would be unprofessional of me to speculate on such an issue." Staff at Mthimkulu and Makuya confirmed that animals, particularly elephants and buffaloes, regularly moved in and out of Kruger. "There is nothing to stop them, just the river (the Luvuvhu River)," said an employee at Makuya Nature Reserve. "The river is shallow most of the time, so the animals cross whenever they want." Advertising "Huge Buffalo and Elephant - New Area Opened in 2008", a company called Global Hunting Resources, based in the US, said on its website that the Mthimkulu Nature Reserve lay "between the confluences of the Big and Little (Groot and Klein) Letaba rivers. The hunting area is roughly 22 000 acres, and is now part of the Greater Kruger Park! All game flows freely between the park and the hunting area without the obstruction of the FENCE." The first buffalo hunt in Mthimkulu was in September and the first elephant hunt in Makuya in October. Most of the hunters who have visited these reserves are foreigners. "This is a disgrace," said Steve Smit of Animal Rights Africa. "The government is dishonestly bypassing its own legislation to promote the hunting of animals from Kruger... The government has made no scientific evidence available to support (its) decision to allow this and (its) actions raise questions about (its) commitment to the responsible care of our national heritage." Mkutshulwa said Kruger had formal written agreements with the Associated Private Nature Reserves, but agreements with the two provincial reserves were "still in the pipeline". Trophy hunting is a subject of heated debate among property owners and staff in the Associated Private Nature Reserves. Some promote the idea as a means of raising revenue, but others are opposed to it. The issue also worries staff at the provincial reserves. "I am not in favour of hunting, because we are trying run a tourism operation here," one employee at Makuya said. "It is a difficult thing to tell tourists that hunters are killing animals here." A spokesman for the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said he was not aware of the number of hunting permits issued for reserves bordering Kruger. He also didn't know if trophy hunting was to be allowed in other provincial reserves, because "hunting in buffer zones (is) regulated by provincial (legislation)". http://www.sundayindependent.co.za |
