Well, I opened my big pie hole and now I need backup.

Where can I find published info on area specific Elephant overpopulation. I also need info on how trophy and hunting fees are being spent on conservation in Africa. Thanks.

World Wildlife Fund. WWF.com or some such.

Here's one on Zim's unsustainable elephant population


Thousands of animals face death as Hwange National Park runs dry
Zim Online

Tuesday 02 October 2007

By Lizwe Sebatha

BULAWAYO - Hwange National Park faces a repeat of a 2005 disaster when
thousands of animals died of thirst as acute fuel shortages constrain the
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA)'s ability to move
water to the water points.

ZPWMA spokesman Edward Mbewe confirmed the looming crisis, which he blamed
on the unsustainable elephant population and drought.

"We are facing shortages of fuel among other challenges to refill the water
points," Mbewe said.

"The population of the elephants at the park has exploded out of proportion
and this has created a crisis as the elephants are exerting pressure on
water points while at the same time they are destroying water pumps."

Environmentalists say hundreds of elephants and other animals have died from
starvation, thirst and blackleg as water shortages hit the giant park.

Like other Zimbabwean organisations, ZPWMA has been affected by fuel
shortages and has struggled to move water from various sources to points
where the animals drink.

The parks authority needs over 25 000 litres of diesel every month to fuel
the pumps at the water points but environmental activists say the quasi-
government body does not have funds to buy the scarce commodity.

Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce chairman Johnny Rodrigues yesterday warned
of a "worse catastrophe" in the Hwange National Park compared to what
happened two years ago.

"Most water points have dried up and the wildlife authority does not have
the financial capacity to alleviate the crisis. About US$25 000 worth of
diesel is required, which the authority does not have," Rodrigues told
ZimOnline.

Hwange National Park was scarred by the dry season of 2005 when the wildlife
sanctuary broke an 82-year record for the lowest rainfall received in the
area.

The average annual rainfall between October 2004 and March 2005 of 346.75
millimetres was drastically lower than the previously recorded minimum of
361.8 mm in the 1923/1924 season.

Rodrigues claimed that his organisation had raised billions of dollars to
mitigate the crisis but could not save the animals after being blacklisted
by the wildlife authority.

ZPWMA accuses Rodrigues of exaggerating the state of affairs in Zimbabwe's
wildlife industry after he accused senior government officials of being the
brains behind poaching activities.

The wildlife management authority has during the past few years built about
65 ponds to sustain wildlife in Hwange during dry spells.

The authority has come under attack on numerous occasions for failing to
keep the pumps running so that the watering holes are full all the time. -
ZimOnline

Plug "world wildlife fund elephant overpopulation" into a search engine and it will get you started.

Best of luck,
Kyler

There was also some good current info in the latest Sports Afield in the Boddington article on elephant.

The problem with some of that is you are probably trying to reason with non-hunters so they will view those sources as suspect I presume.

This is a good resource as it was written by Graham Child, former Director of National Parks and Wild Life Management, Harare.
http://www.zimconservation.com/opinion1.htm

A key quote from this article and one that is very useful in discussions is, "No species, other than man, can modify habitats as rapidly and extensively as elephant."

Another good quote..."What is certain is that elephant populations have erupted in the past 60 years to become a serious threat to the habitats available to them.

Using the elephant population censuses available from about 1960 and population dynamics, Dave Cumming (op. cit.) assigned numerical values to these trends. He estimated only about 4000 elephant in the whole of Zimbabwe in 1900. By 1930 these had increased to around 10 000, when the national herd was entering a phase of exponential growth. By 1940 there were about 17 000 elephant and by 1950 about 25 000. In spite of removing 46 775 between 1960 and 1991 the national population grew to 76 000 head (Child 1995). It exceeded 100 000 animals in 2003."

And again, "Vernon Booth (1989) records the elephant killed in Zimbabwe between 1960 and 1988, when some 44 500 elephant were shot throughout the country, most on culling operations. Despite this population estimates grew from 32 700 to 51 097 head. While I was Director 30 529 animals were killed, mostly on culls, and the countrywide population grew from an estimated 44 109 to 52 583 animals. Clearly, we were taking too little action too late to curb population growth and habitat destruction."

Thanks guys and gals! I don't think a person can win one of these arguments.

Several of us from AR submitted our opinions to SCI's Washington office which was then brought up at the June CITES convention in Hague. I'm sure SCI has all the documentation you would need. I would contact them in DC or the home office. LDK