What’s Right?
Problem is Scott Olmstead, the North American model of conservation does not apply to Africa. And unfortunately when all of us intervene in Africa (conservationists as well), we all influence the management of Africa’s resources. That means you and me and there is much debate about that and much to consider in our efforts.
I believe every hunter has the right to hunt. What needs to be considered is reverence for a dwindling and endangered species. To be examined at this time are the repercussions for hunting an animal such as the elephant.
You say you fed a village in Namibia, that every part of the elephant was used. This is a fortunate account as the outcome is not often how you describe.
Also critical is that the tusks of that animal went into a government stockpile which can be sold without guarantee of funds supporting conservation. This also fuels demand of an illegal industry responsible for critical number reductions of the species currently in multiple African Range States. This is the long-term “animal” much larger than any one you would find on a typical hunting day experience. Something you and many other hunters need to examine and perhaps consider when visiting key safari operations who are primarily interested in feeding a short term demand for an “experience” or “bucket list” that generates income for their own pockets.
No matter who we are – hunter, conservationist, government or non-government authority, safari reserve – we all have a stake in the game. And if we don’t come together somehow and agree on some common ground of how to best protect these creatures for the future, we’ll all lose.
On a final note, I really must ask. If it wasn’t about the money and just about the thrill of the hunt, what might you tell your children and other children when perhaps the elephants are no longer here? It may be in that moment you realize you participated at some level in a process that removed these creatures from the earth because you wanted to have what was and is rightfully yours to experience.
The question right now is, is it right?
“I killed an own/use elephant bull in Namibia. It was owned and used by the people of the village in the conservancy where I hunted. Within 24 hours, it was reduced to a grease spot—every scrap of it cut up, butchered and carried off for use by indigenous folks. The tusks went to a Namibian government warehouse. I got nothing but an experience (a helluva one, I might add), and some photos. And I fed a village.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/11/why-everyone-should-embrace-elephant-hunting/#ixzz2vhfnLBsR
Hi, noble effort on your part. And beyond being a naturalist I have no stake in the “game”. I am curious on your reaction to the following comments made by trackers and guides alike while on safari a couple of years ago in South Africa.. The elephant anti poaching program and the reinstatement of historical migration routes has been so successful that authorities will have no choice but to cull literally thousands of elephants over the next few years . Their ravenous appetite, trampling ways, and the lack of natural predators have made them a spieices out of control.
Richard – your question is the ever present important one. Perhaps we should be considering human population issues versus always culling the herds of animals because of their encroachment. Birth control is a topic, and in Kenya, your worth with some tribes is the size of your family along with the herd numbers. We continue to punish the animals for healthy reproduction, but no punishment for healthy human reproduction. By punishment, I mean control and of birth rates.
Outside of this, better and proactive monitoring of animal population growth allows for strategic planning, not reaction based conservation. I sense that herd numbers are allowed to grow because it offers a way to make money perhaps off culling practices. It costs money to relocate animals, far more expensive than culling. However, South Africa may soon find itself in a situation equal to its friends in the northern Range states where dramatic numbers of animals are being lost. It will only be a matter of time. Once herds are decimated in certain areas due to habitat loss, human/conflict, and poaching, the demand for ivory will continue its trek south. If it doesn’t, then we need to ask why not.
My belief is that you have to have human population control, innovative land and habitat management, the ability to naturally control birth rates in elephants (which is reversible when appropriate), proactive monitoring of population growth, and strategic agreements between other range states who are losing elephants to perhaps relocate families from areas of surplus to areas of loss. This could enable excellent trade agreements, revenue models surely would be innovative. Much of elephant conservation today is reactive. That needs to change.
At the end of all of this, my opinion is that humans are the source of the problem, not the animals, yet they bear the brunt of the punishment. With no predators in sight for humans, what will we change in our behavior to co-exist effectively?