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Conservancy Needs a Hunter

Irene !hoaës

7 December 2011

Windhoek — Professional hunters who are interested in hunting quotas have responded positively to the Doro !Nawas Conservancy's needs.

The conservancy, one of the biggest in the Kunene Region, has been without a professional hunter since the beginning of January and has been looking for one.

This followed the withdrawal of the previous hunter after his "shoot and sell" method was found to contradict the conservancy's agenda.




According to the chairperson of the Doro !Nawas Conservancy, Amingo /Honeb, the conservancy found that the "shoot and sell" method was unsustainable, as any animal could be shot, thus depleting resources, compared to trophy hunting where only certain species are hunted.

Trophy hunting also benefited the community, as they could get the meat, while with "shoot and sell", all the meat is taken by the hunter.

The previous hunter, according to the chairperson of the conservancy, did not want to do trophy hunting alone but also wanted to "shoot and sell" and hence withdrew from the conservancy.

Due to the non-availability of a professional hunter, the conservancy could not utilise the whole quota provided by the environment ministry for the 2011 hunting season.

The conservancy recently announced that it needed a hunter urgently, as the community was furious with the committee over the issue.

"They are angry because no wild meat was handed out to them," /Honeb added.



According to /Honeb, they are now looking for the best hunter with the help of the World Wildlife Fund. The conservancy is looking for a professional hunting company to sign a three-year deal with it.

Doro !Nawas is one of the biggest wildlife-rich conservancies, bordering the Namib Naukloof, the new Dorob Park and the Tora Conservancy in the west.

It also borders the Sori-Sorris Conservancy in the south and Huab Conservancy in the north.

The Doro !Nawas trophy hunting quota for the 2012 hunting season consists of 80 oryx, three cheetah, 30 Hartman zebras, 30 ostriches, two hyenas, 100 springboks, 20 jackals, four steenboks, two klipspringers and two leopards.