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REPLY TO JOUBERTS' STATEMENTS: by Graeme Pollock

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We have received the following reply from Graeme Pollock Safaris, in response to the Jouberts' statements regarding hunting, specifically in Botswana, published by Jaypee Smuts as a reply to Jaco Strauss' comments, under the heading : Role of Private Wildlife Ranchers and Hunting, published on our fb page on 26 Sept..

Dear Beverly ,

Thank you for your comments , however as usual your comments are not backed up with fact or science but are an unsubstantiated opinion, I would however like to comment on relevant points as follows:

1. I trust that I will not be blacklisted as per your other platforms as I expose the truth with facts.

2. You state the BWMA stated that it contributed $6 million to the Botswana economy , is this a deliberate mistake or an intentional one ? , the BWMA has a Resource Economics report : Review of Safari Hunting In Botswana :
Financial and Economic Assessment ( R.Martin 2008) it quotes ;

" a major study done by mead (2001) put the gross economic value of the safari hunting industry in Botswana at about US$10 million, seven years later (2008) this value has increased to about $40 million " that was in
2008 since then elephant quotas tripled so we could safely triple this figure to $120 million , a far cry from the $6 million you quote ! Licenses for elephant generate in excess of P8 000,000-00 directly to government alone.

3. You state that 80% of that stayed in the US or Swiss Bank accounts , when you investigated this ! .. Firstly the Swiss banking system would certainly never release this information to you if indeed it did exist which the BWMA categorically refutes and secondly the resource economics report states that
23.5 % of all revenues were retained as tax by local and central government alone. This excludes lease fees and resource royalties. Resource royalties averaged around 10% of total turn over and have to be paid in to the land Board with certification from a public accountant. You have inverted the facts - more than 80% of revenues remain in Botswana.

4. Based on this incorrect figure that you provide , you attempt to distort the secondary income flows from hunting which are self correcting.

5. Your comparison that a 24 bed lodge with its associated staff , effluent . waste , carbon emission , natural gas and oil consumption has a lower ecological impact than a one client with possibly one observer in a camp is completely absurd , we concede that 24 beds requires more staff , more infrastructure , more diesel oil and consumables , staff housing , than does a hunting camp , but it is for this reason hunting camps are more ecologically friendly than mass tourism. Low density tourism (Hunting ) preserves the wilderness.

6. You state poaching is increasing and hunting does not prevent it , this is incorrect and I refer you to the 911 control centre in Maun who keep records of poaching incidents , in NG 47 we have operated there for 16 years and there has not been a single poaching incident , whereas in the neighbouring National Park there were over 30 elephant and a Rhino poached , the main activity in the park is photographic ! Extrapolate this across the rest of the hunting concessions !! ? . Further prior to the conversion of hunting concessions in the Okavango delta to photographic, poaching was a non entity , since the conversion the poaching has increased to the state that these concessions now employ full time anti poaching personnel.

7. You yourself state that not a single poacher was arrested in the hunting concessions compared to photographic concessions, you incorrectly attempt to state that the gun shots are masked by hunters gun shots but again go on to state the hunters are only there for 5 months , so in the other 7 months there are no gun shots, yet still there is no poaching when there are no so called masking gun shots !!!! , and the reason any reasonable person will know is that hunters are a) armed and patrol on foot nearly every corner of the concession with trackers who quickly pick up any person who could pass into the concession , and b) the hunting party always has a Department of Wildlife Game scout with them. and c) the best trackers are often ex-poachers who now are gainfully employed this deters their poaching colleagues and removes him from poaching - all-round diminishing poaching.

8. The selinda has never been a waste land, it is affected primarily by water and the flowing of the Selinda spillway which has the greatest affect on wildlife density , 6 years ago the flooding pattern were completely different than today , today the presence of ground water determines the density of wildlife. Contrary to your statements the Chase report and recent
2012 survey shows an increase in wildlife in hunting CHA's and a decrease in NP's and core areas where most concessions are photo based. The record of wildlife surveyed in your area is public knowledge.

9. You refer to 2 papers which we trust are scientific and peer reviewed and not coffee table sensationalist journalism opinion articles - there is a vast difference between the two . You refer to 1) Hunting is bad for Lion populations , there exists no science based peer reviewed published paper showing hunting is detrimental to Lion populations , in fact if you read the published work of Dr. B Smuts , lion are resilient and in fact increase fast and furious under pruning conditions , they culled over 400 lions in central KNP and they bounced back in less than three years , you should remember you were the manager at Harry Huts in the Sabi Sand around this time , however your reference is to trophy hunting and I redirect you to the recent study in the Niassa game reserve where Lion hunting is the primary activity , Lions have doubled in number from approx 600 to 1200 (Begg) , clearly refuting your statement that hunting is detrimental to Lion populations. Now your second point is in relation to an article that Dereck sent me and my response is on record , that hunters do not support the increased hunting of species that are threatened with extinction. We also do not deny that the price of a species increases with its rareness , however we categorically reject the notion that the banning of hunting is beneficial to a species and we cite the case of the Black Wildebeest , Bontebok , White Rhino ( I know not a good example right now ). These species were endangered and threatened by their low dispersal (isolated populations are vulnerable to extinction through disease ) , wildlife authorities set about making breeding groups available to private landowners for sustained use , the rest is history , these species have flourished under utilization ( wise use) and you will find some readers were not even aware their numbers were so low they were threatened with extinction.

Then last but not least your offer to take up a challenge - well here it is and this is a very public forum .

1. Firstly I am so glad you have stepped forward as we were concerned for the welfare of a) our staff b) the water provision of wildlife in our areas and c) the anticipated poaching in vacated areas.

2. Your offer to employ all hunting industry staff ( approx 250 permanent jobs and more temps) and retrain them into passive employment is welcomed, the BWMA can forward to you a list with their salaries and omang(id) numbers to ensure they are legitimate and wage rate , the minimum pay roll should start around P375 000-00 per month , you have publicly promised to employ them and train them and find them new jobs.

3. You say you have demonstrated that there will be no increased poaching as a result , fortunately the 911 centre makes it poaching statistics public so we can load these reports here and see if you will be able to uphold this promise.

4. You have promised an increase in revenues from the closed hunting concessions , we have provided you with the target of $120 million.

5. You challenge us to swop our guns for binoculars and personality to guide people , a) you are aware you still need a gun to guide people in dangerous game areas and I think your staff do have guns as well b) we all carry top of the range binoculars already and c) you are aware the PH license is the highest qualification a guide can get in Botswana , in the exams you need over 85 % to pass as a PH 75% to be a guide and so on.

But what is a challenge without a counter challenge :

The hunting industry puts it to you , if phototourism is the best land use and most viable use of the Botswana natural resource , then why are you afraid to open the tender process to multiple use , why not level the playing fields if you are not scared and are so sure photo tourism will out perform hunting ??.

As I already know this is all hot air and a performance for the anti hunters , I will bring this back to reality and make it more achievable ,
*
In the Kalahari you successfully closed lion hunting and subsequently all hunting and the concessions there lost an annual income of over P500 000-00 per annum plus 75 jobs per concession , the land is about to be rezoned and all the wildlife will be in serious danger , there has been three photo tourism sites put out on tender and not a single photo tourism company has stepped forward. What about you just keep your previous word and replace what was lost when you closed hunting in those areas before the grandeur of Northern Botswana.

As I cant post on African Geographic or National Geographic , Lion Aid or Lions Forever etc , due to the dislike of me spoiling a good story with the truth, I would appreciate a cut and paste by someone who can.

A fantastic response.

I, with your permission, have cut and saved a copy and will do my bit to spread the facts.

We can not afford for the anti-hunters and the like of the Joubert's to continue portraying our conservation efforts as being fruitless.

I urge all AR members to send this response on.

Excellent response.

Dutch

quote:

Originally posted by Dutch44:
Excellent response.

Dutch

+1 and have shared. Have also posted it twice on the Joubert's last lion FB page - once as a follow on to my latest response to Derrick/Bev, and once as a message. Hopefully it will be read by some who are able to open up their minds a little.

Great response!! problem is you we can argue with these guys until we are blue in the face, but will never change there minds and yes all of those workers will be out of A job and they will never be able to raise that money, and even if they do the money will never reached them and will disappear in the wrong pockets!!

Expose the truth....liberals can't stand the truth, especially if it cuts into their bank account.

Does anyone have the link to get onto the Jouberts FaceBook page? I can't get onto it, and would love to paste that essay by Graeme Pollock onto their page. I'm also going to post it onto Lion Aids page.

Can anyone help with a link?

I've already posted it a couple times on Joubert's last lion page. Unfortunately can't post it to lion aid as I'm banned. Here is a link to their page: https://www.facebook.com/Lionaid

Might be a good idea to set up FB pages & websites with very similar names to those full of anti hunting propaganda but with the real fact etc.......

I posted it to Lionaid but I bet it will not stay up long.

Just saw that someone esle also posted it. Maybe if it gets posted enough times it might stay up long enough to actually be seen.

quote:

Originally posted by Dutch44:
Excellent response.

Dutch

Great response , want to cut and paste this to FB

David, I'm the other guy who posted on there. So far, the posts are still up there.

Lionaid has now removed all the posts and before they did I did not see one of their members post any type of comment. I guess facts confuse them.

Doing nothing is never an option. Well done to all who are taking these guys on.

Greenies are typical Leftists in that they refuse any discussion that involves rationale when not in agreement with what they hold dear.

Thanks for the support , today we have a meeting with the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Wildlife (MWET), and the Game Farmers Pitso in Gaborone.
It looks like the Government is going to spend P30 million on installing solar powered pumps in the concessions to tide them into the conversion from huntng to phototourism.
so with Government helping with water provision and the BDF anti poaching it just leaves the Jouberts to employ all the staff !!!

for those that can get on to Lion Aid , I believe the moderator there is Pieter Kat , who had his research contract terminated by our DWNP , after that he turned on the hunting industry and opened the Born Free webpage and started a huge campaign to get donations ( life style funds as I call them ). so maybe if you could a question as to why was his contract was cancelled ? love to see his answer , cant give it because not prepared to land up in court.

quote:

Originally posted by Safaris Botswana Bound:
Thanks for the support , today we have a meeting with the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Wildlife (MWET), and the Game Farmers Pitso in Gaborone.
It looks like the Government is going to spend P30 million on installing solar powered pumps in the concessions to tide them into the conversion from huntng to phototourism.
so with Government helping with water provision and the BDF anti poaching it just leaves the Jouberts to employ all the staff !!!

for those that can get on to Lion Aid , I believe the moderator there is Pieter Kat , who had his research contract terminated by our DWNP , after that he turned on the hunting industry and opened the Born Free webpage and started a huge campaign to get donations ( life style funds as I call them ). so maybe if you could a question as to why was his contract was cancelled ? love to see his answer , cant give it because not prepared to land up in court.

Could you keep us posted on the outcome of the meeting?

quote:

Originally posted by Safaris Botswana Bound:

..... for those that can get on to Lion Aid , I believe the moderator there is Pieter Kat , who had his research contract terminated by our DWNP , after that he turned on the hunting industry and opened the Born Free webpage and started a huge campaign to get donations ( life style funds as I call them ).....

Did you really expect him to wear his best smile, thank you all profusely for the opportunity and walk away? - I have said it before, I don't trust wildlife researchers further than I can piss without holding it!

All they do is collect data and eventually use/manipulate it to the "benefit of conservation" - like they did in Kenya.

quote:

Originally posted by SBT:

+1.