We (almost) buy a canned cheetah

Fiona Macleod



11 August 2005 04:00


On the left is Alexander Steyn and on the right is the client who shot the cheetah.
The Mail & Guardian stopped just short of buying two tame cheetahs for a “canned†hunt this week. The deal came to an end when we refused to fork out about R100 000 and failed to produce a letter from a European embassy approving the export of the cheetahs’ heads.

Our investigation into cheetah hunting started about two months ago, when an overseas contact alerted us to a website offering them for sale. The site prominently features a hunter showing off a dead cheetah.

Cheetahs are on the verge of extinction in South Africa. Conservationists say South Africa does not have a quota for the sport hunting of cheetahs or for the export of cheetah trophies.

Believing the hunt illegal, we contacted the advertiser -- Alexander Steyn, of Steyn Safari in Northern Cape. Steyn and his brother set up the outfit near Kimberley in 1994 and claim to “have seen the company grow to one of the leading hunting operations in the regionâ€.

Through an Afrikaans-speaking “agency†in Limpopo, we negotiated with Steyn to buy two cheetahs and two lions. He told us two cheetahs were available costing R45 000 each, permits included.

The prices for the lions ranged from R180 000 for “the biggest lion available in South Africa at the moment†to about R30 000 for lionesses. Various other species, including endangered species such as rhinos and sables, and novelties such as white lions and scimitar oryx, were also on offer.

Using a European passport, we posed as a Greek woman who wanted to hunt the predators and who planned to visit South Africa with her Saudi boyfriend, cheetah breeding and hunting being popular in Saudi Arabia.

Steyn said the cheetahs would come from a tourism project, where they had been captive-bred and “were not suitable for breeding any moreâ€. They would be moved into a hunting area for the shooting party.

He maintained the hunt would be legal because of a provincial regulation allowing for the hunting of captive-bred predators. Realising that this is one of the confusions confronting a panel of experts appointed by the national government to investigate the canned hunting industry, we pressed ahead.

Steyn asked the agent to organise a letter from the Greek embassy saying it would not have objections to the importation of the cheetah trophies. This was necessary for him to organise permits in terms of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

We went back to the conservationists, who had told us no Cites permits could be issued for cheetahs. However, they added that the system was totally unregulated and hunting outfits were taking advantage of this.

Last year the owner of an outfit in North West province brazenly admitted on TV that he was hunting cheetahs, but no action has been taken against him.

“We know about a lot of cases where people are doing canned cheetah hunts, particularly in the Free State and North West. They are catching wild, free-roaming cheetahs, keeping them in one-hectare camps and then releasing them into larger areas when they have a buyer who wants to ‘hunt’ them,†said one cheetah expert, who did not want to be named. “South Africa’s cheetahs are disappearing and no one does anything about it.â€

The Mail & Guardian contacted the “Green Scorpionsâ€, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism’s law enforcement branch. They put us in touch with a police officer operating in the Northern Cape, who said the police had been keeping an eye on Steyn’s cheetah hunting.

But, he added, he could not bust Steyn if the cheetahs he offered us were genuinely captive-bred and if he had a Cites permit to hunt them. If we went to see the cheetahs, we would be able to tell whether they were wild.

At this point we set up a meeting with Steyn, pretending to be a friend of the “hunter†who wanted to check out the animals on offer.

He said the accommodation was about 90km from Kimberley and the location where the cheetahs could be hunted was in another province, about 220km away. The lions were being bred about 150km from Kimberley, but would be hunted about 500km away.

Steyn sent the M&G photographs of the lions on offer, but not of the cheetahs. “I spent hours trying to take photos of the cheetahs, without results,†he wrote in an e-mail message. “They are shy and hid in the long grass about 50 to 100 metres away from me.â€

He could not understand why we wanted the cheetah pictures. “I understand if a client wants a lion photo because the mane is important. [But] all cheetahs look the same … A photo in a book tells a client what to expect.â€

The M&G’s plans to see the cheetahs on Women’s Day were scuppered when Steyn phoned at the last minute to say he wanted a 30% deposit before he would drive us out to see them.

Because we used a false passport for the “hunterâ€, we were also unable to get a letter approving the export of the cheetah trophies -- and so never saw the Cites permits he promised to get.

When we revealed to Steyn that his cheetah hunting was the subject of a newspaper investigation, he responded furiously: “This was a setup by those green people who want to taint the names of the professional hunters, while we are just good, honest Afrikaans people trying to run an honest business.â€

When asked if his business was canned hunting, he replied: “What is canned hunting? Canned hunting takes places in a fenced-off area. Yet the whole of South Africa, the whole of Africa, is fenced. The whole of Africa is canned.â€

Running out of time
Cheetahs are South Africa’s second-most endangered predator, after wild dogs. Conservationists say they are on the edge of extinction in this country and that every animal counts in the battle to save them.

There are at most 300 of the sleek, fleet-footed cats in South Africa’s protected areas and less than 250 free-roaming outside protected areas. About 600 are in captivity, but only 200 of these are officially accounted for — implying that about 400 are being kept in canned hunting facilities.

Cheetahs tend to get pushed out of conservation areas because they compete for food with larger predators such as lions and spotted hyenas, and sometimes are preyed on by the larger animals. Outside the conservation areas, they come into conflict with farmers and game ranchers.

Though it is illegal to hunt cheetahs, some provinces issue permits for the removal of damage-causing animals. Hunting outfits, particularly in North West and Free State, are taking advantage of this and are making a lucrative business from catching the wild cats.

They sometimes micro-chip the cheetahs, place them in one-hectare camps, claim they are captive-bred and offer them to hunters. Alexander Steyn offered the M&G cheetahs for R45 000, but the normal asking price is R75 000 to R80 000. Cubs are being offered for sale in the Free State for about R60 000.

The De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust, a conservation centre based in North West, estimates that in the past two years alone, at least 200 wild cheetahs have been killed or removed from the wild.

Cheetahs passed through a population bottleneck of a few hundred individuals between 10 000 and 20 000 years ago, reducing their genetic viability. Inbreeding is a significant risk and only about 40% of cubs reach maturity, so each individual is vital for the species’ viability.

Hunting lobby groups are calling for the legalisation of cheetah hunts, but De Wildt is strongly opposed to the move.

At public hearings into the hunting industry convened by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism this week, conservationists argued that cheetahs are a special case, and that they need to be treated differently from other South African predators.

Soooo....despite their attempts to entrap Mr. Steyn, who seemed to follow all pertinent regulations and requirements, the vaunted 'investigative journalists' of the Mail & Guardian came up empty-handed.

Sounds like Dan Rather has disciples in RSA.

Edward R. Murrow must be spinning in his grave.

George

George, your'e right on 100%. Isn't it great to have to deal with this too? Anyone been investigated for their hunting efforts? Entrapment is an appropriate description. Hey Kathi, where's the pictures from the article?

Hey guys,
I am writing to defend Alexander!!! I hunted with him for ten days in September, 2001. He was a perfect gentleman, honest, hard working, ethical, and in all ways following all rules and regulations. I am planning on using him again and I know he did not and would not do anything wrong!
Jeff

Jeff: I know him too and hunted with him years ago for plains game. But I think that what you really meant in your post was that he didn't and wouldn't do anything wrong, not that he did and would, right? Or was it a freudian slip?

My typing skills and a beer after work are to blame for the confusion! Alexander is a perfect gentleman, period.
Jeff

What is the situation on cheetah anyway? Someplaces I read that they are on quota and plentiful then comes an atricle saying they are virtually extinct.

I know that cheetah can be taken, sometimes as an animal of "chance", in Namibia and I was toying with the idea...

Editorials

Cheetah cheaters

11 August 2005 11:59

The godfather of canned hunting in South Africa was a Portuguese man who owned a game farm in northern KwaZulu-Natal in the 1970s. He had a nice little scam going with Gauteng zoos, which sold him “surplus†wild animals. He took them in the back of his car to a piece of open veld in the Magaliesberg for “hunters†to shoot.

He had many tragicomic tales about his exploits. One involved a cheetah that was pumped so full of drugs that it died before the client arrived. Rigor mortis had set in by the time the hunt happened, so the godfather’s people propped the cheetah up in long grass. After driving the foreigner around in the veld for a while, they pointed out the cheetah and he shot it. The godfather had a lot of explaining to do when his client went to pose for his trophy photo and discovered the cheetah was a cold, stiff carcass.

This kind of pathetic crookery, along with official corruption and the abuse of animals, has caused several African countries -- including Zambia, Botswana and Kenya -- to place full or partial bans on hunting. But it is unlikely that our government, which has set up a panel of experts to investigate regulating the local industry and was hosting public hearings this week, will ban hunting outright.

Economic arguments will no doubt prevail. Foreign hunters reportedly pay about R1-billion into local tourism and foreign exchange coffers each year, and the industry claims to support about 70 000 jobs. Then there is the game rangers’ argument that more land is under wildlife now than ever before.

But is hunting contributing to the sustainable conservation of wildlife? As our exposé on cheetah cheaters this week indicates, profiteering in the industry seems to have escalated to the point where hunting is defeating the conservation cause. Corruption is rife and professional ethics are shot.

Research showing the huge scale of the captive predator breeding industry that is feeding the hunters in some provinces has horrified panel members. Captive breeders can expect clampdowns. “Put and take†hunting outfits -- the kind that, like the godfather, buy wild animals and immediately shoot them after putting them on a plot of land -- will probably be banned. So will the classic forms of canned hunting, such as shooting drugged animals or shooting them from a vehicle.

The biggest problem the government faces, however, will be setting up a coherent national policy and arming the provinces to enforce it. The hunting industry is presently regulated according to provincial ordinances, which are at best confusing and contradictory. Provincial authorities claim enforcement of the regulations should be left up to them, because they know what is going on on the ground. But they are at best ill-equipped or loath to crack down on offenders, at worst implicated in the profiteering.

Cheetahs have virtually disappeared from South Africa since the godfather’s day, but provincial officialdom has failed to take on the breeders and hunters accused of contributing directly to their decline. The hunting panel of experts owes it to future generations to put a lid on this.

I have to chime in in support of Alex as well. I have hunted twice with him, and believe him to be an excellent hunter. I can assure all that he has the utmost ethics in the hunting field. Too bad he was the target of these Woodward and Bernstein wannabes.

As Kathi has continued to show us with the articles that she finds, the animal rights activists and eco-freaks will not stop at anything short of the banning of all hunting in South Africa. Today it is the so-called "Canned Hunting". Tomorrow it will be all hunting. "Canned Hunting", according to the article, includes shooting from a vehicle. Does that mean that a disabled hunter is participating in "Canned Hunting"? Also, what is "put and take" hunting? How long does an animal have to be on property before you can harvest it? Most game farms buy and sell animals to improve breeding stock, etc., and regularly move animals. What about high fencing? Where does it end and who decides? Are we going to be bound by a binder of regulations that you must carry around with you to decide? If you have been to South Africa enough, you will greatly understand the very serious efforts of the bunny huggers to stop all hunting. It is a serious threat to all hunting, not just the so-called "Canned Hunting". Go close to Kruger National Park and hunt there and you will understand the bunny hugger mentality and the reason that you have to cover any trophy you are transporting, cover your hunting equipment so as not to offend the eco-freaks, look like a tourist instead of a hunter, etc. Are we criminals?

IMHO, this kind of canned hunting serves to give hunters and hunting in general a bad name. All true hunters should condemn it as improper and unethical. These operations provide ammunition for our enemies to use to agitate for the elimination of all hunting everywhere.

The fact that this kind of so-called "hunting" may be legal doesn't make it right or proper in my mind, either. Many things are legal that no right-thinking, ethical person would or should do.

Might as well shoot a domestic house cat.

Your'e right. Like whorehouses in Nevada. They're legal but no right-minded, ethical person would find himself there, right? Back to the issue, what's legal and ethical for one may not be considered ethical for another. Like the example of the disabled hunter. I know of one who has taken the big five from a wheelchair in the back of a hunting truck. Ethical? Legal? You decide. I certainly agree that the Cheetah Godfather is and was wrong in what he was doing, but the point is this: The antis and eco-freaks want to end ALL HUNTING. This, as our gun rights enemies were so apt to remind us in pushing the Brady Bill was the nose of the camel under the tent. Any time they can push us to give an inch they'll take a mile and they are just as rabid or more so in South Africa.

I guess I just don't want to give them even an inch, and am unwilling to forbear from criticizing anyone who does.

Canned hunts, and fenced areas, as much as we may ethically despise them, may very well be the cheetah's only hope for survival, in that area.

Seems to me the only thing keeping rhinos alive are their value, and keeping them on ranches...

g

One thing is for sure. If something smells like a canned hunt to some, they will climb up on their high horse and pontificate about something like "ethics," or "high moral ground." The antis thank you for your help in banning all types of hunting.

I personally could care less what anyone thinks about a particular hunting method. If it is legal, we should not participate in the antis' campaigns to ban it. Their strategy is to nibble us out of existance, one hunting method at a time, like a school of guppies.

If you don't like a particular type of hunting, say shooting a leopard over bait, then the answer is simple. Don't do it. Please refrain from attempting to push your moral values onto the rest of us as being the only possible conclusion we could reach. We are adults and can make up our own minds.

"For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost." Ben Franklin
And soon, when we lose enough battles, nobody can go hunting anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by patrkyhntr:
One thing is for sure. If something smells like a canned hunt to some, they will climb up on their high horse and pontificate about something like "ethics," or "high moral ground." The antis thank you for your help in banning all types of hunting.

. . . If it is legal, we should not participate in the antis' campaigns to ban it. Their strategy is to nibble us out of existance, one hunting method at a time, like a school of guppies.

If you don't like a particular type of hunting, say shooting a leopard over bait, then the answer is simple. Don't do it. Please refrain from attempting to push your moral values onto the rest of us as being the only possible conclusion we could reach. We are adults and can make up our own minds.

It would seem, since I am the only one in this thread who has criticized this operation, that you are referring to me with your response.

You are missing the point entirely. It is operations like this one that give the antis ammunition. True hunters need to stand up and condemn this kind of so-called "hunting." We need to be unafraid to police our own ranks. If we don't, and what's worse, if some of us support this kind of thing, the antis will have even more ammunition.

I don't dispute that you can shoot whatever you want and do it however you want, as long as it's legal. Make up your own mind and reach any conclusion you want about it. Go to this fenced enclosure and shoot a canned cheetah. Then come back home and tell your friends what a brave hunter you are for having done it. Ah, but that's the catch, isn't it? That tells the tale, doesn't it?

My bet is that not one of these so-called "hunters" tells the truth about how he took his cheetah. In any gathering of true hunters, he would be ashamed to tell the truth, because he would either be ridiculed or condemned and shunned or all of the above.

And that's because some of us do have ethics and are willing to stand up for what we believe rather than sink to such depths. If you think that's "pontificating" from a "high horse" standing on "high moral ground" then so be it.

You are, of course, free to think and do whatever you want, again, as long as it's legal. You can indeed make up your own mind on this or any other issue. But if you make a stupid or wrong decision, then don't try to hide your failings behind some kind of "us against them" rationale or vague claim to moral relativism. It won't wash.

As I have said above, what is legal is not always what is right. It is legal in this country for anyone to drink himself into an alcoholic stupor daily. In some places, a man may legally gamble away the funds needed to keep his family fed, clothed and sheltered. And as another poster has stated, not everywhere but in some places, a man may legally whore his life savings away in a brothel.

All of these things are legal. But don't expect me to support anyone who does them or even refrain from criticizing his behavior as unethical and flat out wrong.

And neither should you expect me or any other sportsman who has hunted African big game, and knows what African big game hunting is, to believe that the shooting of tame, captive-bred, zoo animals in fenced enclosures is the same thing as or even remotely close to real African big game hunting.

It has as about as much to do with hunting as the slaughter of livestock.

Cheetahs have long been a domestic cat. Egyptians, in 3500 BC had them as pets.

A couple of the hunting camps have pet cheetahs. I think Judge G has posted pictures of that cat, somewhere.

Saeed has something like 5 cheetahs as pets.

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tp.../625100621#625100621

JJHack also has a pet cheetah, Nikita, IIRC.

So, canned Cheetah hunts are REALLY bad. The cats have no fear of humans, if they have been raised by humans, and, it's genetic.
Cheetahs, unlike lions, aren't likely to kill you if you wound them, so, for me, it would be like shooting someone's pet house cat.

Admittedly we have a few people around here that hate cats, but, I think they are in the minority.

You might also read the above thread, and find out from Saeed how stupid, and dangerous, lions raised in captivity can be. He was attacked, and almost licked to death.

While Cheetahs have nice coats, they look better on the Cheetah. If you are going hunting, hunt a WILD animal.

Still, if you want to pay 45-90 thousand rand, for shooting somebodies house cat, that might still help the spieces survive, and that would be nice.

G

When hunting in South Africa there were reportedly two cheetah in the area that were reguarded as pests. We were told if we saw them to shoot them, no trophy fees, but no trophies either, only photos.

So what is the true situation of cheetah? If they can be bought and sold at markets, how can they be endangered? Also hunted in Namibia and maybe elsewhere?

quote:

Originally posted by NitroX:
When hunting in South Africa there were reportedly two cheetah in the area that were reguarded as pests. We were told if we saw them to shoot them, no trophy fees, but no trophies either, only photos.

So what is the true situation of cheetah? If they can be bought and sold at markets, how can they be endangered? Also hunted in Namibia and maybe elsewhere?

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1411043/m/307106513

G