Thursday, July 31, 2008 - Web posted at 8:31:27 AM GMT

Last desert elephants in firing line

JOHN GROBLER
SERIOUS alarm has been raised over official plans to shoot three of Namibia's rare desert-adapted elephant bulls in the Kunene Region as trophies for big-game hunters, which conservationists fear could cause a collapse in their dwindling numbers.




The permits for shooting what could be three of only five breeding-age elephant bulls left were issued in spite of warnings that this was unsustainable in a population that already showed alarming signs of high natural mortality and genetic problems due to in-breeding.

Documentation seen by The Namibian shows that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism had issued three hunting permits to six conservancies in the Kunene Region for shooting three elephant bulls in the current hunting season.

These conservancies, controlled by the local communities, typically sell their rights on to professional hunting companies, earning on average about N$60 000 per elephant.

The professional hunting firms however sell these on to wealthy hunters willing to pay up to US$60 000 for the privilege of bagging such a rare trophy.

The desert elephant, so called because of their smaller stature and physical adaptation to their arid environment, range in the dry riverbeds of southern Kunene where they feed primarily on Ana tree pods.

Regarded as a keystone species in the local eco-system, they are also a key attraction in Namibia's estimated N$6,2 billion tourism industry.

While the elephant largely keep to unpopulated areas, increasing encroachment from pastoral farmers have over the past years has brought them into conflict with local communities.

A man was killed in the Bergsig area late last year by a bull which a local NGO said had become aggressive after he had been previously shot at.

The Ministry has not, as far as could be established, conducted any recent census of the elephant population but apparently based its decisions on complaints from local communities about "problem animals."

According to research by Australian researcher Dr Keith Leggett, there are fewer than 240 of these elephant left in the southern Kunene Region, ranging from the Ugab to the Bergsig area further north.

Elephant-Human Relations Aid (EHRA), a NGO that constantly monitors these elephants and manage conflict between the elephants and local populations by constructing elephant-proof water points, however says there are fewer than 60 adult cows, and as of 2006, only five bulls of breeding age.

EHRA's Johannes Haasbroek believes their and Leggett's data overlap, as the elephant range up 70 kilometres in a single day, with the herds of about six to 10 animals moving between rivers in search of food and water.

Even more alarmingly, EHRA reported on their website that they have only spotted three breeding-age bulls over the past few months -the same number as the trophies now up for sale.

The three permits appear to have been issued by Director of Wildlife Management Ben Beytell, in spite of several recommendations by the Ministry's own staff to the contrary.

Despite several efforts to contact Beytell yesterday, he did not return any phone calls.

No other officials were willing to comment, referring all queries to Beytell.

Dr Betsy Fox, who formerly headed the Ministry's Outjo offices, in April warned in an official letter to her seniors that the elephant population in the Kunene Region could not sustain such a loss of bulls.

Dr Fox urged Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Beytell and Head of Scientific Services Fanuel Demas to immediately rescind the hunting permits for the elephant bulls.

Referring to earlier reports she had made, Fox warned that high natural mortality - EHRA puts calf mortality as high as 80 per cent - did not support the decision to issue hunting permits, a view that was shared by all her colleagues in the Kunene Region, she wrote.

Killing a key tourist attraction was short-sighted and could damage Namibia's international reputation as a tourist destination, Fox cautioned.

"I think the Ministry officials who approved these quotas are not thinking in terms of the best conservation measures for the keystone species in the Kunene Region, but are succumbing to pressure from conservancies to earn quick bucks," Dr Fox wrote.

Dr Fox has since left Namibia, and could not be reached for comment.

But Haasbroek, while declining to comment on specifics, expressed the fear that it was already too late, as professional hunting outfits were already in the area.

"It's open season out there on the last of the last desert elephants," he said.

* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587

Interesting that no mention is made of the elephant that killed a park employee a year ago, nor of any of the other elephant-people conflicts that have recently occurred in the region.

Africa Wins Again.