http://www.news24.com/Africa/N...or-r181-300-20160609


SA firm sells controversial Zambian hippo hunts for R181 300

2016-06-09 14:09

Lupandi - A South African company is selling seven-day hippo hunting safaris for more than R180 000 in Zambia's Lupandi area, where conservationists say they've only just been told about a controversial cull okayed by the Zambian wildlife authority.

There's no suggestion that Theo De Marillac Safaris is doing anything illegal.

The cull - reported to be of up to 400 hippos every year for the next five years - is officially to stop the spread of anthrax, an infection that can be fatal to humans.

But the UK-headquartered Born Free organisation suggests that the cull is more about "trophy hunting" and says it will turn this 250km stretch of the Luangwa River into "killing fields".

Born Free claims on its Facebook page that Theo De Marillac Safaris is marketing the hunts.

On its website, Theo De Marillac Safaris urges potential clients to "experience the rare and exciting opportunity of participating in a controlled hippo hunt in Zambia's Upper and Lower Lupandi".

"This walk and stalk hunt over the flood plains means hippo are hunted on land, making this a very exciting, adrenalin-pumping safari," says the company.

A five-day safari - which will see five hippo hunted - will cost R129 500 while a seven-day safari, hunting seven hippo, will cost R181 300.

Will Travers, Born Free founder, said in a statement: "At a time when wildlife populations of multiple species are under extreme pressure across much of Africa, many, including Born Free and our supporters around the world, fundamentally question the logic of killing thousands of hippo, and turning the flood plains of the Luangwa River Valley into ‘killing fields’."

http://www.citizen.co.za/11512...cull-sparks-outrage/



SA hunter’s Zambian hippo cull sparks outrage
ANA


An alleged 2000 hippos have been killed by safari operator Theo de Marillac in Zambia.

Animal rights activists have issued a stern warning about of the suspected slaughter of up to 2000 hippos taking place along the Luangwa River in Zambia.

The news has met with outrage. It is alleged that the “professional hunter” in question is a South African.

The outrage follows the leaking of images showing the hunter, Theo De Marillac, of De Marillac Safaris standing over the body of a slain hippo. De Marillac Safaris has a website at www.demarillacsafaris.co.za.

Although De Marillac could not be reached for comment, images on the website show the hippo being shot as it enters the water on a stretch of the Luangwa River. Other images show villagers skinning dead hippos, and two severed hippo heads.

The images were posted by a whistle-blower referred to as a “Friend of Wildlife”, who had downloaded the images from the Facebook page of Kamisa Malipita, an employee of Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DPNW). Information shows that the employee took part in a culling programme on May 31.

The culling/trophy hunting licence was awarded by Zambian authorities to the hunter for a period of five years. Information on the DPNW website indicates that the contract was awarded last year as part of a programme to cull the hippo population along the southern Luangwa River.

Meanwhile, African News Agency (ANA) has established that the Facebook page is an authentic source of the graphic images.

However, activists have consistently opposed the programme and described it as a disguised trophy hunting exercise.

“There is an urgent situation arising in the South Luangwa region of Zambia. Hippo hunting licences have been awarded to a foreign Professional Hunter (PH) with large bag limits of up to 2 000 over the next 5 years under the guise of animal management,” the whistle-blower said in a message sent to ANA from Lusaka.

“Presently, the (South African) professional hunter is busy selling hippo trophy hunts to other foreign nationals,” the whiste-blower told ANA.

The message stated that at least six hippo have been killed since the ongoing programme began on May 22, and that real questions existed as to the legality of the issuing of the licences.

“There were questions raised by the new director of DNPW that the licences may not have been legal and were arranged under the now defunct wildlife authority last year. Despite this, DNPW have forged ahead with the contract and killing has commenced,” the message said.

The whistle-blower said that since May the Department of National Parks and Wildlife have held meetings with six community resource boards (CRBs), where communities were informed that whole herds of hippos, including pregnant and suckling females and their calves, would be killed.

The whiste-blower warned that indiscriminate killings would wipe out hippo populations along the river and be a contravention of the Zambia Wildlife Act because foreign hunters were involved.

“To the best of my knowledge no environmental impact assessment has been prepared or submitted. Local professional hunters and safari outfitters were up in arms. The foreign hunter will bag 400 hippos per year,” the whistle-blower alleged.

The message went on to warn that a significant proportion of the hippo population in the Luangwa Valley would be wiped out in the course of the hunting season’s duration of four months.

The whistle-blower alleged that local safari operators who were initially unhappy with the issuing of trophy hunts to a foreign company were now allowing foreign clients to hunt hippos on their concessions in return for financial benefits.

Meanwhile, DPNW director Paul Zyambo has confirmed to ANA that there was an ongoing hippo culling programme in the south Luangwa region.

However, Zyambo declined to comment on the legality of the programme, which he said had been planned by the Zambia wildlife authority sometime last year, well before it was reconstituted and rebranded as the Zambian new DPNW which he heads, early this year.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sun...rning-graphic-images


Link has photos and story.

That's a heck of a cull hunt.

Read John Hunter book now that is cull hunting.

A quick search on this forum on 'Theo de Marillac' yields some interesting results. I'd be wary. Most certainly undercutting local operators who have to pay high trophy fees for the hippo hunts they sell.

http://www.reuters.com/article...ldlife-idUSKCN0Z01JT



Zambia halts hippo culling after protests by animal rights activists


Zambian wildlife authorities said on Tuesday they had suspended the controlled slaughter of up to 2,000 hippos over the next five years following concerns from animal rights activists who described it as trophy hunting.

Zambia's Department of National Parks and Wildlife said it started the hippo culling after new research showed that the water levels in Luangwa river were "low and insufficient to support the hippo population, especially in the dry season."

Zambia has between 42,000 and 50,000 hippos, a population the Department of National Parks and Wildlife says cannot be supported by the water levels in the Luangwa valley where most of the animals are located.

British wildlife charity Born Free said on its web site that the scientific rationale for killing up to 2,000 hippos when their population in the entire southern Africa region stood at 80,000 hippos was questionable.

"I urge the authorities to call a halt to the killing with immediate effect," Born Free President and Co-Founder, Will Travers said in a post on the charity's website.

Water levels in Zambia's rivers and lakes have dropped following a prolonged drought that threatens crops across the Southern African region where the United Nations has warned that 14 million people face hunger.

(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by James Macharia)

offcourse a British wildlife charity would know what is the best for Zambian wildlife

This is just another classic case of appeasement.

I wonder what the Namibian wildlife authorities would have done when confronted by these British idiots. I would like to think they would tell them to go to hell and get on with the culling.

The reason for the cull is an over population resulting in disease and outbreaks of anthrax. Especially in times of drought.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
The reason for the cull is an over population resulting in disease and outbreaks of anthrax. Especially in times of drought.

Yeah.....much better that they die of anthrax..... Morons!

.

The cull has been suspended or review due to international pressure.

If a massive die off (remember Tsavo) occurs due to drought or disease then we must remind those who have interfered.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
The cull has been suspended or review due to international pressure.

If a massive die off (remember Tsavo) occurs due to drought or disease then we must remind those who have interfered.

Always appeasing these people. That's the problem.

You're right about the imminent die off , the antis will however distance themselves from this problem though.