Update on proposals ..

Cheers, Peer
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AHI News : South Africa wants to hedge in hunting

South Africa on Tuesday proposed a ban on "canned hunting", in which captive animals are killed, as well as hunting with bows, traps and dogs, in an effort to clean up the lucrative business.

Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk unveiled a set of guidelines for the hunting industry, which generates some R25-billion a year in South Africa, drawing game hunters from Europe and the United States.

"The most important thing that we are doing today is that we are making sure that the hunting industry is based on integrity and best practices that we can defend," Van Schalkwyk said, speaking at the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre west of Pretoria.

"There are a few bad apples in the industry, and practices such as canned hunting, especially of lions, that have done South Africa a lot of damage in the past," the minister told AFP.

Recent years have seen an international outcry over canned hunting, in which hand-reared animals, mostly lions, are tied to a pole or lured to a food source and then shot as a trophy.

"We have also heard of examples where rhinos have been killed with crossbows or bows and arrows, which is totally inhumane," said Van Schalkwyk, adding that hunting should be conducted along "fair chase" principles pitting the hunter's wits against those of the animal.

Van Schalkwyk said methods like canned hunting should be abhorred.

"There is nothing romantic or sporting in what amounts to the barbarous slaughter of an animal," he said.

Breeders of animals for hunting purposes will also be given two years to rehabilitate these animals back into the wild before allowing them to be hunted.

The proposals are to be submitted for public discussion over the next six weeks and could be approved by the end of the year, Van Schalkwyk said.

Also released on Tuesday were proposed regulations establishing a permit system for threatened and protected species, restricting breeding, hunting, trade and transport of these animals, such as the loggerhead turtle and the stag beetle.

"In effect, the days of captive breeding of listed species for any other purposes except science and conservation are over," Van Schalkwyk said.

"Any person who contravenes these regulations... will be liable for a fine and imprisonment for up to five years," the minister said.

The new proposals, which were drawn up with the help of a panel of experts including hunters, were being welcomed, said De Wildt's deputy director Vanessa Bouwer.

"We are so excited about this proposal because we know it's the beginning of the end for those kind of unscrupulous people out there," she told AFP.

South Africa has become one of the hunting world's greatest draws, attracting some 9 500 foreign hunters every year, the Professional Hunters' Association of South Africa estimated last year.

Some 9 000 privately owned ranches employ about 70 000 people to cater to foreign hunters who come to hunt animals including Africa's "Big Five" — lions, leopards, buffalo, elephant and rhino.

It has always been elegal to hunt with a bow in RSA unless you had a permit or on exempted farms.

Wimpie

quote:

Originally posted by wimpie:
It has always been elegal to hunt with a bow in RSA unless you had a permit or on exempted farms.

Wimpie

As the old ordinance stands there is a moratorium on hunting thick-skinned animals with a bow and arrow - not plains game as far as I know.

I have dicussed the proposed new nature conservation legislation with a memder of the PHASA board. If you read the proposals it is clearly stated that bow hunting will not be allowed unless a permit is issued or the hunt takes place on an exempted farm.

We must also remember that the legislation is only aimed at large predators rare and endangered species. It will have no effect on ordinary game. In effect rare and protected game will most probably removed from the exemption permit and everytime you want to hunt that animal you will need to apply for a permit to hunt it. If you want to hunt the animal with a bow, you will need a permit for that as well.

Ever since I can remember bowhunting was regulated. If you wanted to hunt the dangerous 6 with a bow there was and still is a lot of rules that you must adhere too. Not much will change with bowhuntingof ordinary game.

To make it yet another posting by a South African, I'd like to tell everyone that Minister van Schalkwyk earned himself the nickname of "Kortbroek van Shalkwyk".

Another piece of world best, but totally unenforcable by South African authority, regulation is about to be promulgated.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren.

To make it yet another posting by a South African, I'd like to tell everyone that Minister van Schalkwyk earned himself the nickname of "Kortbroek van Shalkwyk".

Another piece of

"Tied to a pole"? My oh my. . . .
By the way, has anyone hunted the Loggerhead Turtle or the Stag Beetle? If so, how do you judge a trophy?

And, for those of us that don't speak or write Africaans(sp) what is the nickname, in English, of the Minister as referred to above?

Kortbroek seems to be a good Enviro minister from what I can see/read?

He has big shoes to fill - Kader was great, Valli was IMO fantastic in this portfolio but Martinus seesm to be making some good, far reaching decisons ITO some laws, new areas etc

Put it this way, compared to Tshabalala 'maak Jou Bang' Msimang, he is a saint, but then compared to her, most politicians are saints

Short pants van Schalkwyk.

I think it is long overdue that we have a National enviromental policy. The current legislation is fragmented between the provinces and unscrupulous people is using it to their advantage and to BS foreighners.

If everybody works together it can and will work.

Sounds like the are keeping the EU happy because of the World Cup in 2010, you cant even bring in guns anymore for a few days if your in transit from a hunt in Zim as a prime example. I liked to stay there for a few days after a month in the bush before the long trip home, and now I cant. Short sighted and losing lots of tourist $$$ until 2010.