Ek is reeds geruime tyd in bespreking met van ons groener vriende op
http://www.portelizabeth.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=714&Itemid=289&joscclean=1&comment_id=752
My laaste antwoord word nie daar geplaas nie want ek dink nie dit is wat hulle graag wil hoor nie. Ek plaas dit dan maar hier. Ongelukkig is dit in die koning se taal en ek gaan dit beslis nie alles weer oorskryf nie, so vergewe maar.
Groete Kruger
Hier volg my ongeplaasde antwoord:
Bool, just as you can make my experiences, observations and knowledge off as incorrect and yours as facts I can doubt yours. Those ?facts? that you refer to, how were they derived at? Who did the experiments, observations and or studies. What was the raw information obtained and how was it interpretated to get to your so called ?facts?. One of your claims is that once you start killing jackal their litter sizes increase. How was that determined? How can you without a doubt say that the increase in litter size can be attributed to killing of jackal? What about maturity of the jackals observed(younger bitches normally have smaller litters, irrespective of other factors), food supply, etc. How did you prove beyond any doubt that it was actually caused by killing and not one of the many other variables that contribute to litter sizes??
I had three Anatolians myself. I know at least 7 more farmers in the area owning in excess of 30 dogs together. That is the sum total of Anatolians in the entire district. All of them complain about the same thing, so in the entire district, according to you, there is not a single ?trained? Anatolian. I was one of the first to try Anatolians, but due to the damage they caused to my wildlife, I feel they do more bad than good. I received training literature when I purchased my dogs, did a lot of research on the internet and trained them accordingly. I am not a novice when it comes to dog training. I am a registered breeder of sheepdogs (Australian kelpies) and train my dogs myself, so I understand a dogs? ways. What infuriates me is that you as well as Stef make assumptions of me personally and regard that as fact. Re-read the sections above and you will see I was told I was not willing to do research, have factual inaccuracies, lack knowledge, have suspect experience, driven by profit, etc. None of you know me, on which grounds can these assumptions be made and reflected here as fact? Were your other ?facts? obtained in the same way?
Just as you probably have, I have also made a study of this situation. Just as you are an educated and intelligent person, so am I. Why are only your findings regarded as fact and mine are dismissed without any factual proof as incorrect. I described why I say protective collars are not effective. Also have I said why I have a problem with Anatolians. I said to you on various occasions that jackal numbers are way out of control. Why do you refuse to accept that as the core of the problem? Have your studies indicated that they are not overpopulated, and if so, where were those studies done? You do not even know where I farm, so why do you dismiss the root of the problem as pointed out in my area if you do not even know where I farm. You were not able to verify, nor were you interested to test my findings. Instead you totally disregard them and focus on your own ideas.
Why are elephant culled in national parks? It is to restore the imbalance created by man. (btw, any and every human activity causes an imbalance, whether that be mushroom farming, vegetable farming, fruit farming, cattle farming, sheep farming or simply building a house, but these activities are essential because there is a world population that requires food and shelter) Lack of control of jackal numbers is exactly the same. They have no natural enemies in sheep farming areas and breed uncontrolled, therefore they have become a problem. None of your control methods address this problem. They have even become a problem in some of our national parks, whether you are aware of that or not. In the Karoo section of Addo elephant national park they have had to supplement their springbok population on various occasions. Do you know why? Contact them and find out if they will only be willing to tell you the real reason. I know the real reason as I personally know some of the personnel working in that area. I know what their findings are. I say again jackal numbers are out of control and that imbalance will have to be corrected.
This is off the subject, but ties in with the bigger picture. You must have noticed that vervet monkeys have also had a population explosion. You see thousands of them all over and that is not good either. They too will have to be controlled because they are decimating our birdlife. Areas that had huge flocks of guineyfowl for instance (my farm included) have hardly any left.
I have said it in my previous responses and I will say it again. Some of the ?green? methods work to an extent under normal conditions, but once jackal numbers are out of control they are totally ineffective. I therefore do not doubt your claims that they were effective elsewhere. What I do say is that even in those areas jackal are still allowed to breed uninterrupted and within a few years they will also be totally overpopulated unless lethally controlled and when overpopulated those methods will also prove ineffective there.
You reject data that I have offered due to the fact that it was obtained in the 1980?s. This study was done on the effectiveness of jackal in killing their natural prey, in other words in how many of their attempts in catching a hare or rabbit they were successful. According to you this information is outdated and incorrect. Jackal have been hunting those prey animals for thousands of years. Their skills, methods and instincts were accumulated over centuries and at a point during the 1980?s when that study was done, that was their success rate. You say the information is outdated. Do you therefore say that they have learned to hunt during the last 20 years since that study was done, more than they were able to learn over the preceding thousands of years? Where is this newer information you refer to, who did the research, where was it done and how was it done?
I quote:? tell me that your ?lethal force? is not working very well.? Well Bool, previous generations have proved it to be effective, but due to various reasons, your ?green? alternatives included, it is a less used method today. Since I started to use that method three years ago I can make a living, which was impossible before that time. Do you know what it cost to support a ?normal jackal population? of say 3 pairs on a farm of say 7500ha? You will probably argue that the offspring will not stay in the same area and will move into open areas. The problem is there are no open areas left and the result is that territories become smaller. It is an excepted view that the territorial area of a pair of jackal is around 2500ha. Well I have proof of three pairs of jackal that had dens in an area smaller than 1400ha during the past breeding cycle. Presumably it is your job to protect them, but it is my job to produce lambs. Protect them in the areas allocated for nature conservation and I will produce lambs in the area allocated for that purpose. The two just don?t work together.
Why are certain principles only applicable on certain species? What would happen if Kruger parks? elephant are allowed to expand their territory all over South Africa once their numbers exceed the capacity of Kruger alone? That is the reason why there are control measures to keep their numbers within the capacity. Why can the same principle not be applied to jackal, but instead their areas must now include farming areas and I am not allowed or assisted to control their numbers on my own farm. This is not a sustainable solution. Their numbers are out of control and they will have to be reduced.
I feel you need to do research on the economic viability of enforcing your ?green? alternatives onto farmers. If we continue along these lines there will be no sheep or sheep farmers left within a few years. When that happens the jackal population will start to feed on their next alternative namely wildlife. After they have destroyed that resource too, you will probably have to keep bringing in more wildlife to support them like Addo is doing at the moment. It is simply not sustainable.
Do a study on the amount of jackal in South Africa, see what and how much they consume, make a projection of their numbers over five or ten years from now and compare that to the resources available to feed them. Publish that with full details on where, how and when the jackal counts were done on this website, once you have completed the study. I will gladly assist you in doing this.
In the meantime while this is being done I will refrain from shooting jackal. That will cost me between R200 000 and R300 000 in losses annually. At the end of every year we (you and me together) will publish a full inventory of losses that I had to jackal, while using your ?green? methods, and I then expect you to give a similar personal donation to nature conservation, with proof of deposits to this effect published on this website, as this is what you expect me to do.
It is easy for you or anybody else for that matter to make statements if it does not affect you personally. If you are so sure that your methods are effective you have nothing to fear, so put your money where your mouth is and take me up on this challenge. I will send you an email with my contact details (for your personal use) for the purpose of factual discussing of this problem, but I am not interested in an emotional discussion of whatever kind.
Hierdie antwoord op sy vorige stellings is reeds drie keer ingestuur na bogenoemde forum, maar is tot op hede nog nie geplaas nie. Dalk maak dit te seer. Raakskiet manne, Groete Kruger
