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The prohibition on big game sports hunting was the work of ex-president Ian Khama, a keen conservationist, ...
So if you are a keen conservationist you ban hunting? If you are not so keen or not a conservationist at all then you allow hunting? It appears you cannot be a keen conservationist and be pro-hunting (sustainable utiilisation).
... to shield species decimated by hunting and habitat loss
. Really? Botswana has the largest population of elephants in the world. Many conservationists believe they have an overpopulation of elephants that are causing excessive damage to trees and vegetation - especially near water sources - and this, in turn has a major impact on species that live in that habitat. I would hardly say that their elephants were decimated by anything let alone controlled legal hunting. Ai.
The prohibition on big game sports hunting was the work of ex-president Ian Khama, a keen conservationist, ...
So if you are a keen conservationist you ban hunting? If you are not so keen or not a conservationist at all then you allow hunting? It appears you cannot be a keen conservationist and be pro-hunting (sustainable utiilisation).
I do admire the man he has done a lot for that country and for conservation. But he the wrong people has his ear and therefore the hunting ban was imposed. We all know who are the most vociferous and active in the media - the bunny huggers. With the Jouberts etc talking only echo and photographic safari the voices of the conservationist looking at hunting as a management tool has been silenced.
So now you have X amount of elephants overpopulated large parts of the country with the inevitable human conflict increasing and the massive long term impact on the environment. What are the conservationists proposing now?
I suppose it is better for the elephants to die of hunger than being shot.
Like Dimitri says, long before the over population of elephants will affect the elephants, it will affect other species. Starting with plant species and then animal species.
Eg. In areas where there are too many elephants you will find that they destroy big maroela and boabab trees by removing the bark.. eventually the trees die. Same with other trees and eventually they change the lanscape so much that it becomes a open savanna type landscape with very few big trees. This will again affect species like groundhornbills who are already endangered and use the trees as nesting sites. This happens long before the elephants affect themselves.
The greenies don't understand that elephants are what is called a keystone species. Because they are so big and require such large tracts of land that by just managing them, all other species and ecological processes will manage itself. But lets not forget that there is nothing a true conservationist (most of them also hunt) can teach a housewife or photographer who goes to the KNP once every two years.
A true conservationist will priorotise conserving soil, flora and lastly fauna , in that order.
Is there such a thing as a "politically correct conservationist"- all they do is blow smoke..
THOMAST wrote:A true conservationist will priorotise conserving soil, flora and lastly fauna , in that order.
Is there such a thing as a "politically correct conservationist"- all they do is blow smoke..
One should start an "Adopt an Elephant" scheme whereby "greenies" can adopt an elephant or two.
The KNP will rent the area that your elephant/s walk on to you (greeny) and will let you know when and where to have the feed delivered.
And do not forget that there will be storage charges for the feed, erection and upkeep of fences, the labour fee for feeding your elephant/s and a water charge.
Also a levy that will cover rehabilitation of lost vegetation.
Any greeny willing to sign that agreement has my respect.
Smaller areas will then probably be able to sustain larger herds of elephants that will be "artificially" kept in the "wild"
I yet have to meet a greeny that can think clearly about sustainable conservation. Probably because the only sustainable conservation strategy includes culling and numbers control.
I know that the above is a crock of sht but that is the only way to describe the stupidity of some "conservationists". How else will we be able to keep hundreds of thousands of elephant? Either people have to pay for sustainable conservation or animals have to pay for it or maybe both, but it will not come for free.
The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.
Mark Twain
I have been following the elephant population in Botswana for probarbly 18 years and in that time no one has ever come up with a proper way to manage the animals and that includes the KNP. For the last 5-8 years social media has made so many green keyboard warriors that anyone or any government except for Namibia to stand their ground against them.
We are passed the point way past the pint of now return even if we had to cull 20 elephants per day and process them for food and hide for the next 20 years we would not be bale to curb the growth rate in the population. Neither wil we know or understand the effect it would have to cull elephants everyday hads it would become a logitical nightmare when shooting loner or small group elephants to make a number 20 per day.
The elephants have changed the ecosystem already for them and other species no more, lechwe, waterbuck, bushbuck, waterbuck, sitatunga and even normal plainsgame in numbers except for the ones that graze on short grass. Magic for the greenie and camera with elephant around every corner, buffalo and lions the species all at top of the pyramid. Even in the Tuli the area north in Limpopo province on the Limpopo river banks it was thick like jungle when I was a kid its now open and no more a jungle.
I'm very pro hunting but reintroducing hunting will not help the population issue.
But bring valuable money and resources and will also grow the elephant teritory area with safari areas running boreholes again with, new waterholes that has been closed or left after the hunting was closed down. It will also bring peace between locals and government with hunters taking care of problem animals and much needed revenue. Will also create jobs and a whole industry with anti poaching but it will not solve the issue of overpopulation. Same as the world citties and towns we live in we are running into over population issues so are they with no real answer except for mass culling.
