Published in: Legalbrief Environmental

Date: Tue 01 April 2008
Category: Conservation
Issue No: 0054

The hunting fraternity says it supports the culling of elephants – and is to pressure the government to allow hunting in national parks as it sees this as part of the culling process, writes E-Brief News.

The money generated from hunting could be used to fund conservation and biodiversity management, eliminating the shortfall that will arise from the national budget as the government concentrates its efforts on poverty alleviation and social development, says Ludolph Swanevelder, the former chairman of the Confederation of Hunting Associations of South Africa (Chasa) in The Sunday Independent. The organisation states on its Web site that it will start a ‘lobbying process to have hunting in national parks allowed’ and that this could only begin ‘once the culling of excessive elephant resumes successfully’. But Van Schalkwyk has reiterated his concern about continued hunting in buffer zones bordering national parks. Regulations for the management of hunting practices in buffer zones were excluded from the elephant management norms and standards and the regulations on threatened or protected species published a year ago because they would form part of the management plans for each national park. But SANParks has denied this, saying the management plans excluded hunting in buffer zones and culling, and that these matters would be dealt with only when new management plans were compiled in future. Swanevelder agreed that hunting could not replace culling. But, he pointed out, it should be seen as an integral part of the culling process.

SA’s national parks are not for sale – they were created as heritage symbols for the nation. So argues Dr David Mabundla, the CE of South African National Parks, writing in The Sunday Independent. He observes that the national parks system is the highest form of protection that a country can accord its wonderful natural, cultural and even historical heritage for the perpetual enjoyment of future generations. He points out that people often make the mistake of comparing what is happening in provincial protected areas with what is happening in national parks and drawing the conclusion that the two are no different in nature or form.
There are intrinsic differences in the two, legislative and otherwise.
Therefore, where certain practices may be permissible in provincial parks, such practices may not be entertained in national parks. By lifting the ban on culling and approving culling as one of the tools for elephant population management, the Minister did not open a back door for hunting in national parks, notes Mabundla. ‘As an organisation we have nothing against hunting, but as custodians of the national parks system we cannot allow hunting or any form of extractive use in national parks. Confusion between culling and hunting must never be created or allowed.

http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=20080401075733295