Free Meat From Game Reserves for Celebrations
Jana-Mari Smith
23 March 2010



TWENTY gemsbok, worth at least N$40 000, were shot by chief wardens in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism at the Daan Viljoen Game Reserve and Waterberg Plateau Park on March 14 and 15 to supply venison for the Independence celebrations.

According to a Ministry spokesperson, the order for the game came directly from State House. He also confirmed that the culling of the animals was in line with sustainable hunting and ensuring that these parks are not overpopulated by the species.

Furthermore, sources claim that the practice to supply meat for State celebrations is not that unusual.

A game farm owner said that a gemsbok carcass sells for about N$20 per kilogram, which amounts to N$2 000 if the animal weighs 100 kg.

The farmer also said that aside from the costs of the meat, game hunters have to consider the cost of the petrol and the time it takes to locate and hunt the animals. She said this drives the price up even further.

However, State House did not spend a cent on the meat and according to the Ministry spokesperson the reason the animals were shot in the game parks was because the meat would then "be free".


Special approval was given by Treasury to shoot 10 animals inside each park, the spokesperson said.

"The animals were shot by our own staff," he said, and added that the hunt was done in a sustainable manner. He added that the gemsbok, a huntable species in Namibia, were culled in line with the Ministry's attempts to maintain sustainable numbers of the animals in the parks.

"If we have too many animals, this could motivate poaching," he said.

He added that the Ministry chose Daan Viljoen and Waterberg, where there are larger numbers of gemsbok, as they wanted to avoid having to hunt in any of the other parks.

quote:

"If we have too many animals, this could motivate poaching," he said.

Just a typical African excuse. Anything for an African independence celebration.

While in Moz last September we encounterd Govt. officials on the Zambezi doing the exact same thing only with hippo. This was just prior to Govt. elections and the hippo were being shot and given to the locals in exchange for their votes. The existing Govt. stayed in power, so I guess it worked? Didn't something like this just happen here in the USA? Health care comes to mind.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

I don't see a problem with this, looks all on the up and up. It's when stuff gets shot, then sold and the money disappears into the pol's pockets - that's bogus.

Just last week the tribal council asked our company to donate a half a ton of meat for the installation of the new chieftain. I was tasked to go out and shoot 4 blue wildebeest off our game farm. It's the way things get done round here...

makes me remember the time when we were tasked to go out and shoot a couple of impala for a going away celebration. seems the chiefs brother was to be arrested for murder the in a couple days and the chief wanted a going away celebration for him.

Yes, I was called upon to shoot a giraffe in 2008 for the local communal area where we were hunting in Zim in order for them to celebrate the "re-election" of Uncle Bob. We managed to shoot a very sick and skinny female who was dying from the effects of a snare. The headman did allow us to keep the tail for giraffe tail soup and to use the hair for bracelets. We got the better part of the deal, believe me.