I've been spending a good bit of time in NW Namibia the past several years. I've seen first hand the increased activity and damage to low and high fenced properties as well as destroyed water holding tanks and wells they are causing. Those wells/water points are paid for and maintained by the land owners out of their pockets. Without those wells/water points ALL game and live stock would not/could not survive in the region.

The Government is "supposed to" help pay for the damage they do but, the reality is the Government NEVER does. What the Government does do to help compensate the local members of a conservancy do is authorized a couple of legal permits be sold and the proceeds go back to the conservancy to help maintain the water points that again, benefits of ALL game in the area. Several PH's in the area say the numbers of elephants in the area (NW) are the most they've seen in their lifetimes and local memory.

Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) Hits Back on Hunt Quotas


MET hits back on hunt quotas
Ministry of Environment and Tourism

October 2017

The environment ministry, which has of late been slammed internationally for issuing hunting permits where the so-called desert elephant roam, has made it clear that there is no such thing as what people are referring to as desert elephants.

In a strongly worded statement issued by the ministry spokesperson, Romeo Muyunda, it dismissed false allegations and reports that government has approved the hunting of three elephants in north-western Namibia which will cause the extinction of the so-called desert elephants.

Elephants occur across the entire north of Namibia with two main sub-populations in the north-eastern and the north-western parts of the country.

The ministry said that the elephants in Kunene and Erongo regions are being referred to by some people as 'desert elephants' because of their ability to live in arid conditions where annual rainfall is less than 150mm.

'From what we know today, this ability is not due to any genetic adaptation, but through their knowledge of the terrain, high mobility and physical endurance. They are nevertheless the same species of elephants that occur elsewhere in the country and are scientifically known as Loxodonta africana.'

Muyunda said strictly speaking there is no such entity as a 'desert elephant'.

'All our elephants are African elephants (Loxodonta africana) and not desert elephants. It is unfortunate that some people interested in marketing elephants as tourism attractions or those against hunting, continue to refer to them as desert elephants with the apparent intention of implying endangerment or imminent extinction of these elephants. These elephants are not at risk of extinction at all, in fact, their numbers have increased to the highest level in at least half a century,' said Muyunda.

According to him, human-wildlife conflict is escalating due to increased population size and range expansion, as well as changes in land use, and in
2016 the number of problem-causing animal incidents reported to the ministry was 5 000.

According to Muyunda in some unfortunate incidents, human lives were lost due to elephant attacks. Addressing human-wildlife conflict requires striking a balance between conservation priorities and the needs of people living with wildlife, he said, adding that elephant-human conflict is not new in the Kunene and Erongo regions.

According to the ministry the aggression of the elephants and their new migration patterns inland are indications of disturbances in the Ugab River, probably caused more by irresponsible eco-tourism and vehicles than anything else.

'Some NGOs and individuals even name these elephants for tourist attraction or other reasons, a practice that the ministry strongly opposes. Elephants are wild animals, not pets, not domesticated animals.

'Reports have also been received of the use of camera drones being flown too close to elephant herds and accordingly disturbing such herds. Wilful disturbance of a specially protected species is a punishable offence.'

Tourism in general and trophy hunting in particular has grown to be one of the most important industries in Namibia in terms of its strong contribution to the gross domestic product, employment creation and the well-being and social upliftment of rural people, not to mention being the main economic driver for the protection of wildlife habitat, the ministry said.

According to Muyunda, the ministry is however aware of specific NGOs and individuals who are working against the wildlife conservation activities of the government and the sustainable utilisation of wildlife resources by rural communities through the conservancy programme.

'This has negative implications for our Community Based Natural Resource Management Programme, which has been widely recognised as an innovative and successful people-oriented approach to conservation. We have become recognised as a leader in this field. We have restored the link between conservation and rural development by enabling communal farmers to derive a direct benefit and income from the sustainable use of wildlife and tourism activities.'

Muyunda said these specific NGOs and individuals have no research permits for conducting research on elephants in the two regions or elsewhere in the country, and they at best only have short-term local and anecdotal information to support their claims. 'Neither do they have operating agreements with the government through the ministry. Their activities and pronouncements on elephant conservation are seemingly not intended to foster co-operation with the ministry and other wildlife conservation stakeholders and we urge them to refrain from this irresponsible behaviour. The ministry cannot let them create confusion amongst rural communities or the public and to tarnish Namibia's conservation achievements.'

Hunting and population growth

According to Muyunda, two elephants are included on the game utilisation quota for this year for Ohungu and Otjimboyo Conservancies (one for conservation hunting and one for own use), and one other elephant has been declared a problem animal in the Sorris Sorris Conservancy. These three elephants are the subject of the media articles and letters received by the ministry.

'It is important to note that the ministry may well have decided to destroy these elephants. Making them available to be hunted is, however, the preferred strategy, as some revenue can be generated in the process for the relevant communities,' said Muyunda.

Communal area conservancies manage about 19% of communal land in Namibia and thus over 250 000 people live within these conservancies. To date, there are 83 registered conservancies that generate over N$50 million from consumptive and non-consumptive utilisation of wildlife including hunting of elephants, per year.

The ministry said since most elephants in the northwest, except the population in Etosha National Park, occur on communal lands it is essential to ensure that resident communities will tolerate elephants in the long term.

'Co-existence with elephants implies that a balance is needed between the costs that they incur and the benefits that can be derived from them.'

The ministry added that today there are more elephants in Namibia than at any time in the past 100 years.

In 1995, Namibia had about 7 000 elephants and in 2004 the total population was estimated at about 16 000 animals, while the current figure is just over
22 000 elephants.

According to Muyunda this is the highest recorded number since population surveys commenced, which shows a continuous positive growth trajectory.

The north-western population based on aerial surveys is estimated at 4 627 animals.

Estimated figures in 2015 indicated that there are 2 911 elephants in Etosha National Park 2015 and 1 716 elephants in the northwest (Erongo, Kunene and Omusati Regions) estimated in 2016.

'Elephants occur as far south as the Ugab River and occasionally in the Omaruru River and in most of the river catchments that flow westwards to the Atlantic Ocean in the north, and have been expanding their range in the past two decades,' said Muyunda.

The north-eastern population numbers are estimated at over 19 549.

'Movements between different populations sporadically occur, providing opportunities for genetic interchange. Numbers will be monitored through aerial surveys at two- to three-year intervals,' said Muyunda.

'Namibia's elephant population and the Kunene and Erongo population in particular, is a healthy and growing population. It is growing at about 3,3% per year. The current levels of consumptive off-take are extremely conservative. They are well below sustainable off-take levels, and the population continues to grow and expand.'

Muyunda said one of the reasons for the increase in numbers is that the animals have a value, communities have rights to manage and use the wildlife, and are starting to earn significant income from wildlife.

This is creating the incentives for them to look after and protect wildlife and wildlife habitat all of which leads to a positive conservation result.

The whole desert designation began when the hunting community started marketing lion and elephant as Desert Lion and Desert Elephant. The lodges picked up on the nonsense and started marketing them.

There is no question that the Kunene region has seen a healthy growth in elephant populations. This is largely due to the fact that off take is not keeping up with population growth which has been surprisingly healthy even during the drought.

The major problem that I have with the permitting process is too often a Problem Elephant permit is issued solely on the need to create revenues. MET needs to cut the bullshit and issue permits based upon actual counts and not guesstimates on populations and stop using problem animal permits to reward communities. While MET is standing up to some of the anti-hunting pressure, they also cave in a lot as well which isn't helping.

If hunters and clients would stop making a spectacle of the hunts, most of the anti-hunting folks wouldn't have a clue what was happening in the region as most of them have never been to the region or seen an elephant in the wild.

But at the end of the day and no matter what folks call them, the Namibian elephant populations are healthy and that's a very good thing.

Thanks for posting.

My understanding of the attempt to legitimize/formalize the "desert" sub-classification is a little different. My understanding is it was initiated by the anti-hunting nuts. Their irrational rational was/is that by being able to break/divide species into smaller "groups", it thus reduces the species population as a "whole" thereby trying to create/force more animals to be up-listed as "threatened/endangered" and banning any hunting.

I think the person most responsible for the lion part of this is a nut named Philip Stander.

m3taco, Helpful, thank you.

Flip certainly has made a business out of promoting the concept (and he's certainly not the only one), however, folks in the hunting world have been talking about Desert Ele and Lion hunting for over 30 years that I know of. Funny how all those Namib coastal lion from Etosha suddenly became desert'ized. Back when Etosha stretched all the way to the ocean, it was not unusual to see the Etosha Pan lions munching on seals along the coast. No one back then called them Desert Lion either. The only reason why the numbers along the desert have dwindled is due to the Conservancies driving them back towards Etosha or simply poisoning them.

In any event, it looks like there is some welcome light being shed on the subject. Hopefully clients will think twice before shelling out extra bucks for a desert cat...

The permits issued while we were recently there(see hunt report) were all for elephants that were causing damage and issues for the locals. Everyone one in Namibia from your PH to the cook will tell you that it is just an African elephant adapted to living in extremely dry region. Their head is much bigger than the elephants in the Caprivi and they suffer from a fluoride deficiency as per our PH.

quote:

Originally posted by wesley timmerman:
The permits issued while we were recently there(see hunt report) were all for elephants that were causing damage and issues for the locals. Everyone one in Namibia from your PH to the cook will tell you that it is just an African elephant adapted to living in extremely dry region. Their head is much bigger than the elephants in the Caprivi and they suffer from a fluoride deficiency as per our PH.

Are the heads of the Caprivi elephants smaller than the average for the species?
What about body size?

While some genetics may be involved, the greater likelihood is these are simply examples of Ecotypes, not sub-species.

http://travel.iafrica.com/depa...elounge/1056224.html


Namibia's desert elephants under threat
Article By: Louzel Lombard
Wed, 25 Oct 2017 9:45 AM



Two of the only five remaining mature Desert Elephants bulls that occupied the Ugab region of Namibia have recently been hunted.

Tsaurab and Tusky, along with another juvenile bull Kambonde were shot in the midst of an international outcry and ongoing petitions attempting to halt the killings - an uproar brushed off by the Namibian Ministry of Environment & Tourism (MET) as a "fabrication and misunderstanding over the issuance of permits for the destruction of problem-causing animals", stating also that the killing of a problem-causing animal is "often the last resort after other alternatives have been tried".

However, with the killing of Kambonde, this was not the case.

Inhumane killing

According to the daughter of the owner of the property where Kambonde was shot, landowners and locals attempted to save the elephant. "We made a lot of effort to relocate the elephant, but the Government refused to give a permit."

Instead, a hunting permit was issued by MET. But on the day of the kill, the hunter refused to go ahead with the kill because the 18-year-old Kambonde was too small. Instead, the hunter was issued a last-minute trophy hunting permit to shoot Tsaurab, a Desert Elephant affectionately known for his meek and gentle character and one of only two young breeding adult bulls in the region.

The next day, MET ordered the killing of Kambonde anyway. And, according to a community game guard in Sorris Sorris Conservancy, the animal's death was a bloodbath. "The elephant had to be shot eight times after the hunter just wounded it with the first shot. The MET warden present at the hunt had to apply the coup de grâce", or mercy kill.

According to MET spokesperson Romeo Muyunda, problem animals are often outsourced to be killed by paying hunters, as was the case with Kambonde.

Voortrekker, the famous 45-year-old bull, 35-year-old Bennie and 25-year-old Cheeky are now the only bulls of breeding age remaining in the region.

Why kill rare Desert Elephants?

Following the hunting, MET assures "all international followers" that they "have created platforms that incentivize communities to co-exist with wildlife". As is evident in the case of Kambonde, however, no 'co-existence' effort appears to have been considered, despite the relocation option put forward by the community itself.

No reply has been received to a letter and extensive research document put together by concerned stakeholders, including Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA), either. The document and letter, obtained through a lodge in the area that participated in the survey, was addressed directly to Minister of Environment and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta and outlined the conservation status, population breakdown, financial value, ecological importance and job opportunities surrounding Desert Elephants.

MET’s reluctance to consider alternative measures to deal with problem-causing animals is further marred by the absence of a legal checking mechanism which establishes whether an animal in question is indeed ‘problem-causing’, and whether its killing is indeed the last resort. According to the Earth Organization Namibia, MET may in its discretion declare any wild animal a ‘problem animal’.

These obfuscations are causing suspicion among conservationists, who argue that MET is being dictated to by outside influences and benefactors, such as the Dallas Safari Club (DSC) Foundation who facilitated the 2013 black rhino hunt in Namibia.

Despite the backlash spurred from the aforementioned hunt, Namibia’s MET and the US trophy-hunting group DSC earlier this year signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at 'promoting' Namibia’s conservation hunting and allowing the hunters’ club to help with auctioning off the country's 'old' rhinos, among other hunting objectives.

Denying Desert Elephants

MET continues to justify the killing of Desert Elephants through trophy hunting by denying the existence of these adapted animals altogether. In September, Muyunda told The Namibian that there is no such thing as a Desert Elephant. He says the definition is a mere “marketing tool for tourist attractions or conservationists with the apparent intention of implying to endangerment or eminent extinction of those elephants".

Scientific, peer-reviewed research suggests otherwise. A study published in Ecology and Evolution in 2016 found not only that the Namib Desert elephants were different from their Savanna cousins, but that their adaptations are also not genetically transferred to the next generation, rather through the passing on of knowledge. Morphological differences, like the adapted elephants’ thinner bodies and wider feet, also distinguish them from typical Savanna Elephants, which MET claim them to be.

EHRA's annual report for 2016 also showed that only 62 desert-adapted elephants remained in the Ugab and Huab river region. Muyunda, on the other hand, says Namibia’s elephants are not at risk at all.

Although MET states that it considers "all aspects on the basis of science and research when granting a permit to hunt any species", attempts to attain such 'science and research' have been ignored.

With 20,000 elephants they will be running out of names ... maybe they will need to call them TuskyI, TuskyII, TuskyIII etc.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201711300495.html



Namibia: 57 000 Sign Petition Against Elephant Hunting

By Tutaleni Pinehas


About 57 508 people across the world have signed a petition for the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to stop the hunting of desert elephants in Namibia.

Iris Koch from Esslingen, Germany, started the online petition on Change.org website.

She stipulated in the petition that Namibia's desert elephants are iconic and highly endangered.



"These animals are among the rarest creatures on this planet, and have adapted to extremely arid desert conditions. Unfortunately, their extraordinary status makes them a preferred target for trophy hunters, and even though they are survival experts, desert elephants don't stand a chance against the rifles of hunters," she stated.

She added: "We are horrified that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism has sold three more permits for the hunting of desert elephant bulls in the Ugab region [sic]."

Koch said the small population in that area is on the brink of extinction, adding that the elephants left in the Ugab area in 2016 had gone down to 30, declining drastically year by year.

"A shocking five out of five newborn calves died, three adult females were lost, while the total number of breeding bulls in the Ugab river region amounted to five.

"We were under the impression that desert elephants have been designated as a top priority for protection by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature)", she noted.


She further stated that the loss of mature and experienced bulls is likely to further jeopardise the survival of the whole population, as is shown in a study published in Science Daily in 2016, that desert elephants pass on their knowledge and survival skills to future generations.

"Their knowledge of how to live in the desert is crucial to the survival of future generations of elephants in the arid habitat, and pressure from hunting and climate change may only increase in the coming decades," she said.

"In my opinion, trophy hunting is a thing of the past. Taking the lives of highly intelligent and socially sophisticated animals for a thrill can no longer be an acceptable pastime", she noted, adding that the elephants are a major attraction in Namibia.

In the petition, Koch requested that the ministry urgently stops all hunting of desert elephants, and withdraws any hunting permits that have already been issued.



"We also call on you to employ more effective strategies for the peaceful co-existence of humans and elephants, as has been successfully done in other places,"she said.

The ministry's chief public relations officer, Romeo Muyunda, yesterday acknowledged the petition.

"We are attending to the details of the petition; we have a meeting to discuss the issues with the petitioners. But we are going to engage the petitioners; and hope to find an amicable solution and clarify the issues," he said. Muyunda stated that some issues in the petition were exaggerated and filled with misconceptions.

He disputed the figures highlighted in the petition, and said there were no permits given for hunting elephants in the Ugab area, so it would not be possible for hunting activities to happen there.

Remove logic and science and insert emotion. Most of these animal rights warriors have never been to the region, seen a wild elephant nor have any concept for what they are blathering on about. Of course that doesn't stop them in the least...

In regards to MET, headquarters has no idea what is happening in the field. That would require them to leave their desk and meet with the MET guys on the ground who are allowing things to happen that probably shouldn't. This is no way to run a rollercoaster.