We had a surprising week. Last week the Director Operations for Zimbabwe's Parks & Wildlife management Authority was suspended for currency violations arrising out of a bribe alledgedly taken to facilitate illegal exports of trophies for two South African operators and two local companies working on the fringe of the law.

This morning a US special investigator arrived after a meeting with our minister to ask a few very proabing questions and then left to talk to our bank officials. The police arrived hard on his heels and began looking at other officers!!!!

Our chief warden resigned last week and quit his office on friday amist allegations that a company called Out of Africa had bribed him (hope it isn't true- lovemore has been a friend for many years). Looks like the hyaenas are gathering for a feast on unethicall and illegal hunting!

Ouch!!
Well its good to know that the riff raff are getting whats coming to them, although it is sad when good men are lured into unsavoury deals with the promise of a quick buck. Most likely only an option that is getting harder & harder to say no to for people living with the 700% inflation and its associated complications.
If it is at all possible I would appreciate it if you can keep us up to date with any new developments...

Andy

Ganyana,

I have it from a landowner in the Gwayi that OOA hunted their land illegally for buffalo. Sad that people will profit at the expense of the legitimate. I hope they burn for all they are doing.

Please keep us up to date.

Considering the wreckage that is my country, I am surprised at nothing that happens here. I had a south african operator who was hunting on a friends farm in the Gwaai tell me that he was doing the lad a favor by not shooting all the game!! This is after they had done a quick 2 hr elephant hunt (called Plan 206 locally after the need to use Cesna's patent elephant location and tracking device) Ron Sparrow was the operator in this instance, but there are others including Out of Africa.

What astounds me is considering the resources available to them is how many Americans arrive in Africa to be taken for a ride! I have just finished a free lance hunt with one heck of a nice guy and real gentleman. However, he arrived believing his booking agent that he was hunting in fairly open plains (rather than thick Jess where most shots at buffalo would be under 10 paces), and had no idea whether he would be hunting on state land, a tribal concession or private land. He was also unaware that the operator had two concessions 8 hours drive appart, and that if you wanted a girrafe it was two days driving! I realised for the first time just how easy it would be to take an honest man for a complete ride, and then leave him to sort out all the Sh*t with your F&W guys later.

Obviously too few hunters frequent this, or similar forums and I just wish we could communicate that - any ideas? The department is broke but if someone will carry an Advert free I'll arange for authority to place it.

Wasn't Ron Sparrow the SCI "PH of the Year" a few years back? I don't have my copy of the SCI awards magazine, but I seem to recall his name as a winner.

It would be ironic if OOA, a big SCI advertiser and show attendee, and Sparrow, former PH of the year ( I believe), both are involved in less than ethical dealings in Zimbabwe.

I wonder if SCI will address these issues.

RCG

Ronnie's name pops up every now and then in regards to 'interesting techinques and localities'.

Ronnie Sparrow,Zimbabwe 2000, Professional Hunter Award Recipient (SCI).

If true about Ron, Out of Africa etc., all I can say is: Disgusting!! I hope SCI makes a statement soon.

When the dust settles, if any of these operators are found guilty, SCI also better take some action against banning them from their org.!

Is what you said about SCI fact-based?

If so, I am sure many people will take a second look when considering membership renewal...

While I am not that naive as to what SCI executives and\or their upper tier members are capable of, I would like to think that any undertaken illegal activities will have serious consequences attached to them both at the individual and organizational levels!

I just may have a chat with some at the SCI Convention to feel them out and get a better perspective of the situation. Sounds like SCI needs some proper governance.



Thanks

Mickey 1

Well said. Any organisation that operates a system where they expect people to pay such high prices for a booth and services at the conventions and then tell them they need to donate a hunt in order to get a half decent location and keep so quiet about how much money they actually make from the conventions can only be motivated by money and personal ambition.

They won't be seeing me at a convention until they change the system. ........

Questions About Elite Hunting Club Member's Ties to Smithsonian



April 19 [2001] � California businessman Kenneth Behring has given the Smithsonian Institution more money than anyone has ever given any American museum: $100 million.



"I love animals. I go to Africa a lot and I just want all the kids to have the enjoyment that I've had," he says of his donation to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History as well as the Institution's Museum of American History.



But Behring, former owner of the Seattle Seahawks football team, is also one of the world's leading big game trophy hunters, who has gone after some of the rarest animals in the world.



"This is a man who has killed hundreds of different big game animals across the world," Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States tells ABCNEWS' Brian Ross. Pacelle also suggests Behring has tried to use the Smithsonian to circumvent U.S. laws that prohibit the import of endangered species.



"No natural history museum should be aiding and abetting trophy hunters killing the world's rarest animals," says Pacelle. "What signal does this send for the world's most prestigious natural history museum to be aligned with people who kill the world's rarest animals?"



'A Real Indiana Jones'



Behring is a top member of a little known but well-connected group called the Safari Club International, an organization committed to wildlife conservation � and to hunters' rights. Among the Safari Club's 42,000 members are many well-known figures, including Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and former President Bush, an honorary lifetime member.



But for all its powerful connections, some say the Safari Club's system of awards and honors laid out in its trophy guidebooks has fostered a kind of trophy madness among some of its wealthiest members.



A hunting guide at a Safari Club convention called Behring "a real Indiana Jones." With more than 125 kills recorded in the official trophy record book, he is also "the largest donor to the Safari Club International," says Pacelle. "They're racing against one another to kill more animals, rarer animals and bigger animals so they can be first in the trophy guidebook � and say, 'I shot one that's bigger than yours,'" says Pacelle, who adds that the Safari Club has in fact offered trophies for killing animals that are considered endangered or threatened.



"They want to kill the biggest and the rarest of the animals because that allows them to ascend higher in the fraternity of big-time game hunters," he says.



In addition, federal authorities say the quest for such trophies has become so great that it helps to drive an illegal black market.



For example, undercover videotape � as part of a two-year federal investigation of a ring that arranges for rare, exotic animals to be killed for trophies � obtained by PrimeTime Thursday captured a rare animal locked in the back of a trailer and then shot and killed � so its trophy head and hide would be undamaged by the rigors of a hunt, according to authorities. The skinners waited while the animal slowly died.



Authorities say several Safari Club members in the Midwest are connected to this trophy ring and arrests are expected in the next few months.



The Safari Club says it in no way condones any illegal action.



"No member can or should take an animal through illegal means," says Rudy Rosen, executive director of the Safari Club. "We have an ethics procedure."



Moreover, Rosen says his organization's members are "hunter conservationists and they contribute their money to programs in conservation, education and humanitarian service to people in need."



Permit to Kill Rare Species



The Humane Society first focused on Behring and his Smithsonian connection after Behring's hunt for an extremely rare sheep in Central Asia called KaraTau argali.



Just two days before the sheep was added to the international list of endangered species, which made it illegal to hunt them, Behring was given a permit to shoot one by authorities in Kazakhstan.



But then Behring found, with the sheep on the U.S. endangered species list, he could not get his big kill back home to California.



"The only way to get it in," says Pacelle, "was to work through a natural history museum, which could attempt to make an argument that import of the sport hunted trophy would benefit science."



Not long after his return from Kazakhstan, the institution made efforts, says Pacelle, to help Behring get an import permit. "In a sense," he says, "abetting the killing of one of the rarest animals in the world." Under pressure from the Humane Society, the Smithsonian eventually withdrew its application to import the sheep.



This September, when Behring announced he was giving an additional $80 million to the Smithsonian, he denied he tried to use the Smithsonian to get his stuffed sheep trophy into the country and said he shot it so scientists could study it.



He also said he gave the Smithsonian the donation at "a much different time" than when he brought the sheep into the country. But Smithsonian records show that Behring shot the sheep at the end of September 1997, and the museum announced the $20-million gift just six weeks later.



Killing �Problem Elephants�



This is not the only controversy involving Behring's big game hunting. Also raising questions is a Behring expedition to Mozambique, where the sport hunting of elephants was strictly forbidden in 1990.



Mark Jenkins, who now overseas a national park in Kenya, managed the Niassa game reserve in Mozambique two years ago when Behring and two Safari Club officials flew in on Behring's private jet and killed at least three elephants near the park.



According to an investigation by Jenkins, witnesses said Behring's group actually used a helicopter, which "drove the elephants onto their guns."



When asked about it at a Smithsonian gala, Behring denied shooting elephants in Mozambique. His lawyer, Mel Honowitz, later told PrimeTime that Behring had misunderstood the question. In fact, says Honowitz, Behring's group had shot three elephants, one of them killed by Behring himself.



"I can tell you it was a lawful and correct and proper hunt," says Honowitz, who produced a permit Behring's group received from a provincial governor in Mozambique. Behring also made a $20,000 donation to a local hospital there, which Honowitz says was entirely unconnected.



The permit was for the hunting of a lion and a leopard and a buffalo, but contains a hand-written addition for "problem elephants," the sole basis on which any elephant could lawfully be killed in Mozambique.



"To the best of my knowledge," says Honowitz, "this was a completely proper hunt for that particular elephant. And the helicopter was not used for that purpose."



But Jenkins says they have never heard of another case in which a foreigner was authorized to kill a "problem" animal.



"They came in there and bankrolled an operation to take out some big elephant," says Jenkins, "and it is wrong. And nobody, nobody can condone what happened."



The Smithsonian says it is proud of its association with Behring, whose name is now prominent in gold letters around the rotunda where thousands of visitors to the Museum of Natural History can see it every day.

******



This is the link to story on ABC's web site

Correct me if I am wrong. I was told by a PH in South Africa that Ken Behring had killed a 100lb. plus elephant in Mozambique prior to elephant trophies being permitted into to the US. From what I was tolded, he passed it off as an elephant killed in SA. Supposedly this elephant had left Kruger Park and was outside its boundaries when shot. This PH says he was there when this occurred. Can anybody enlighten me on this.

I use to live in Seattle and I can tell you right now, nobody liked Ken Behring, especially when he decided to move the Seahawks to California. That was move stopped by the NFL and he had move the seahawks back to Seattle and shortly there after sold the team to Seattle businessman.

SCI is a good organization but, sometimes greed takes over. It is not the organization that is bad but those few members that use it for their own gain.

We forget sometimes why an organization is started.

Steve

We've gone round and round on this before on the Hunting Reports thread. My opinion hasn't changed, and I guess yours hasn't either.

BFaucett

There is some pretty strong evidence that the Helicopter was used for more than 'driving' the Elephants. The rumour as to the ending of the Moz Ele. (pictures show a monster) are that it was one that was later claimed to be shot in Botswana. I don't think there is any proof one way or the other but the tusks did disappear from Moz. The pictures of the Botswana Elephant are similar but it is dificult to tell without someone that is knowledgeable in this area.

Bering pledged around $750,000 to SCI for expansion of the Headquarters. He renigged and withdrew his donation. This cost SCI a substantial amount of money. He is not and never has been the largest donator to SCI.

Would anyone place a wager as to the location of the Moz tusks? I have it from a Moz PH that those elephants were actually shot from the air. Whatever good SCI does is continually negated by these "Gold Medal" egos, going back to the founders.

I think the tusks are in Moz, probably in the same warehouse that is reported to store thousands of pristine double rifles left behind when the Portugese pulled out.

jim

Ganyana,
I am curious as to when this Plan 206 hunt actually took place.

Thanks

Plan 206 hunt was c12June

The tusks from the illegal hunt by some alledged top brass from SCI in Mozambique are in the Zimbabwe Parks Ivory store. If you ask TRAFFIC the ivory appears on their "Bad Ivory" Data base.

I have read on this forum who was alledged to have hunted them - from this end I do not know - except that a trophy dealer was nailed trying to pass them off as "worked Ivory" being processed in Zimbabwe and then sold to an American Client. Simple scam. Worked ivory was easy to export and the registers not too closely checked. These tusks had a brasss base put over the opening and were therefore no longer "raw Ivory". Many tusks have gone out this way, but Emmanuale Ncube from investigations and Ashish Bordasingh from Traffic were looking for those tusks and the dealer got caught.

Wast really, since they did not originate in Zimbabwe, they can never be sold- officially. They will probably end up in China or North Korea next time we swap ivory for AK's and they turn into chopsticks and seals in a heartbeat!

Ganyana,
I am a little confused about your posts on this thread. In your first post you talk about the Director Operations for Zimbabwe's Parks & Wildlife management Authority "was suspended for currency violations arrising out of a bribe alledgedly taken to facilitate illegal exports of trophies for two South African operators and two local companies working on the fringe of the law."
Then you state "Our chief warden resigned last week and quit his office on friday amist allegations that a company called Out of Africa had bribed him"
What confuses me is that on your second post you state "I had a south african operator who was hunting on a friends farm in the Gwaai tell me that he was doing the lad a favor by not shooting all the game!! This is after they had done a quick 2 hr elephant hunt (called Plan 206 locally after the need to use Cesna's patent elephant location and tracking device) Ron Sparrow was the operator in this instance, but there are others including Out of Africa."
Having hunted with Ron Sparrow (and by the way he is a certified outfitter in Zimbabwe) in the past this statement surprised me as I personally know that his hunting ethics are of the highest standards. If I read this post correct you are alleging that Ron made this statement to you personally.
After reading your posts I asked you when this supposed Plan 206 took place. Your responded as seen above "c12June" and then went on about some illegal hunt by some alledged top brass from SCI in Mozambique. Are you talking about the same thing or are you repeating a rumor that went around last year that somehow Ron Sparrow conducted an illegal hunt. I know for a fact that SCI's Ethics committee investigated that rumor and sent Ron a formal apology stating that there was no misconduct in any way by him.
Do me a favor and try to clarify the actual facts that you have first hand and what you say you have heard.

Thanks

Dear Robo,

With all respect, would you mind giving a bit of background about yourself? I ask as many of us base our safari booking decisions, in part, on what we read here. With two posts and nearly no personal information it is hard to know how seriously to take your postings.

Best regards;
Brett Trimble
trimblebrett@aol.com

Robo

The SCI Ethics Committee ruled 'No Violation', not a formal apology. They also ruled the hunt as an ethical violation on the part of two of the other three but were overruled by the Executive Committee. There is no doubt that two Elephants were shot from a helicopter, one a huge Bull, and other animals were shot without any licenses.

The fact that the Mozambique Government chose to not file formal charges in return for a 'gift' from the participants is irrelevant.

Prior to Ronnie getting the SCI Hunter of the Year Award the Ethics Committee recommended that he not recieve it due to an ethical violation regarding his keeping of a deposit on a trip he could not or would not put together.

This was also over ruled by the EC as the Trophy was already inscribed.

By the way, didn't I read he was arrested at Biet Bridge for trying to smuggle some trophies out of Zim? What was the conclusion of that.

I think Brett has a good point. Often on these threads there seems to be people with agendas. They themselves use screen names, but aren't shy about using the names of the folks they are bad-mouthing. When identities are created for poison pen reports it makes me wonder how much is fact, how much is rumor, how much of it is "spin", or just pure bullshit.

I think what will be telling is IF the USF&W comes through with any indictments at this end on the Lacey Act.

Matt

there are no Lacy Act violations because none of the animals were brought into the Us and since Moz. hgas not charged anybody with illegal hunting there has been no law broken.

Not even our 'All Knowing USF&W' will charge someone who hasn't been charged in the country of origin.

Hi Robo

Was answering two seperate questions.

Yours on Ronnies hunt - and no, he personally didn't say that but his operations/camp manager did.

Ethics fade quickly in the face of money!


The second part of my post was answering what happened to (some of the) the tusks from the helicopter hunt in Mozambique.

The thing most overseas visitors don't know, and that many operators here choose to forget, is WHO actually has the legal authority to issue a hunting permit on a farm in Zimbabwe. It is the title holder - ONLY Not Parks, Not the president, not the district council etc.

So far, government has only taken legal possestion of 20 farms in Zimbabwe. Thousands of others have been "designated and Occupied" but title has not changed, so the original owner has to five permission for the hunt to take place for the trophies to enter the USA or Europe.

The current US F&W investigation is looking into these issues. Most (but not quite All) hunts along the Hwange park boundary are technically illegal in terms of Zim law, as they are taking place on occupied farms without the title holders permission.

Yes, the gook that is occupying the land has a letter from the Minister of Agriculture to say the farm is his, and a quota issed by parks, but each animal shot is still stolen property unless the original occupier is paid for it.

I actually have been a member of this forum since 2001, but I seldom post here, as I�m sure along with many others, I visit the site mainly to read and enjoy others hunting experiences and stories. This forum also contains a lot of valuable information for the hunters and there are many experienced hunters that contribute to it.
When I saw Ganyana�s post I wondered if he was just spreading rumors or actually was passing on information that he had first hand knowledge of. I have no agenda with anyone nor was I trying to cause a confrontation but was curious about his agenda utilizing names. I have hunted with Ronnie in the past and will probably do it in the future and was looking for more detailed information on the subject.
Because I had seldom posted anything in the past, when I went to log in my user name and password was rejected. This may because of the many changes that this site has seen over time. Therefore in order to post I had to register again and that is why I now show as a new member.
Very few people post any detailed information of a personal nature but for Brett and Matt I will provide a little bit for them. I am retired from the US government and now am able to have time to pursuit the hunting that I so much enjoy. I am a member of SCI and I have hunted on 4 continents including 6 hunts in Africa. I don�t claim to be an expert in anyway but I do feel that I have enough experience to offer a valid viewpoint on the subjects.

Ganyana - thanks for the detailed info and insight, I don't know that I ever saw this before.

If somebody is looking to hunt on a Zim game farm - what do you suggest that a hunter obtains from his booking agent / outfitter / PH? In other words, how does one know that the actual [legal] owner of the property has given permission for the hunt to take place and will be paid?

You have previously provided the following contact information with the suggestion to call/email Sally Brown at:

Zimbabwe Assoc of Tour & Safari Operators (ZATSO)
18 Walter Hill Avenue, Eastlea, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: [011 from US] 263 4 702402
E-mail: zatso@mweb.co.zw

For Robo and others who might be interested in my agenda:- I am an ecologist - setting hunting quotas and working out sustainable use problems is my main humor. I have a PH licence in Zim and freelance hunt when work allows.

I am not an operator, but have many friends who are.
I examin at the Zim Proficency exams and have don so for many years, so I know most of the PH's well - the older ones have examined along side me and most of the younger ones I have seen at Rifa or on the exam if I didn't know them before.

I tend to root for the bigger guys that I occasionally freelance for simply because I know the standards that I am recomending, but there are many other good operators in Zim who I know and just don't necessarily think of when I am writing a post.

I am concerned about ethical hunting as it will have long term impacts- both on this country and on hunting. Clients getting ripped off is not good for sustainability!

I have an axe to grind about theaft and unethical conduct. How come Matetsi Unit one was illegally taken over last year (just for the year), and when there were 3 lion on quota, eight trophies were exported to the USA? another 5 went to Europe. Neither US F&W nor CITES are impressed. Sure it is corruption at this end that allowed it to happen but a US registered company that did the actual hunting.

There are only four companies that I know of that regularly hunt on occupied farms and are trying to export stolen property. A few others dabbled in it until it became obvious to all but the most greedy that it would come back and bite them.

Some people don't care, hense the hunting of a black Rhino last year on an occupied farm in the Bubiana conservancy, and the shooting of lion in a National park (as oposed to a Safari Area)

For Bill C. I recomend Sally Bown at ZATSO as the most unbiased person to contact. I have personal preferences and dislike standards at some of the operations I have worked for so ... but then, I don't know what "deal" is being offered to you.

Dr Heath at African Hunter Magazine email fishunt@mweb.co.zw is another source of someone who overviews the industry without working for, or being beholden to, any particular operator.

In general - If you are hunting on a state concession other than Matetsi you are fine. In matetsi Unit 1 is fine (HHK is back) and unit 5. the others - depends which operator has bought the hunts off them, since they all basically bub contract.

Tribal (communal) lands. No "illegal" operations here, but quality and value for money varies hugely from bargin to rip off

Private land... Save Conservancy is fine, anywhere else, Please do yourself a favor and contact Sally!!!!

Mickey,
I am curious as to where you got your information on how the SCI Ethics Committee ruled. I thought that if any allegations were determined to be "No Violation" then all of the proceedings and information were not released to anyone. Are you a member of the Ethics Committee? And how do you know without a doubt that 2 elephants were shot from a helicopter?

Robo

Thanks Ganyana. I'm not looking at any "deal" in particular, just general info for myself as well as others who may be looking to hunt Zim, and want to do their homework. Much appreciated!

Here is the latest (Aug 6, '04) from Sally Bown.

Some outfits that are association members are listed under the names of a parent company by the way, so don't panic if you don't find your guys on the website at first.

jim

-------------------------------------------

HUNTING IN ZIMBABWE

Please would you note that in future ZATSO will not assist any clients when they have problems - such as trophies not being sent - if they hunt with operators who are not our members.

Members can be confirmed through our website www.soaz.net <http://www.soaz.net> .

We have had too many time-consuming cases where we are asked to sort out clients who have hunted with some dubious operators and not received their trophies or something else has gone wrong. They will have to try and deal direct with the relevant authorities themselves.

As the Association we are very happy to assist prospective clients get in touch with reputable operators in our membership and to answer their queries.

Yours sincerely
Sally Bown

Mrs. S. G. Bown
Administrative Officer

For further information when visiting Zimbabwe contact our Associations:-

Zimbabwe Association of Tour & Safari Operators
Inbound Tour Operators of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Professional Hunters & Guides Association

18 Walter Hill Avenue, Eastlea, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: 263-4-702402 Fax: 263-4-707306
E-mail: zatso@mweb.co.zw

Robo- I take the chopper business to be fact.Apparently this was under the guise of some type of scientific survey approved by some but not all. The "not all" were the ones that mattered and they took exception to the whole affair.Others here may know more specifics, but rest assured, the heli part of the story is not in question.The fact that they could buy their way out speaks volumes about SCI.