Nov 29, 9:47 AM (ET)


GABORONE, Botswana (AP) - Botswana says it will ban hunting by 2014 because of fears that the nation is losing its wildlife.

The nation's Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism made the announcement Thursday, saying the decision comes after President Ian Khama said hunting must be stopped to save the nation's big game animals. The ministry said that, left unchecked, rampant hunting would be a "genuine threat" to the country's wildlife.

The ministry said hunts by local communities and with special hunting licenses would still be allowed.

Botswana, a nation in southern Africa of 581,730 square kilometers (224,610 square miles), is home to the massive Kalahari Desert and large national parks. It has elephants, lions, giraffes and many other wild animals, making it a popular destination for big game hunters.

Just saw this...are you kidding me?

http://allafrica.com/stories/201211301241.html


Botswana's Ban On Hunting Harmful
By Waldo, 30 November 2012



Botswana's controversial decision not to issue hunting licences, either commercial or private as from 2014 can lead to several unintended consequences. An expert from South Africa's North West University believes Botswana's ban on hunting may may improve revenue from hunting for neighbouring countries, while at the same time, draw attention by poachers to Botswana's wildlife. Botswana President, Lt Gen Ian Khama said the decision not to issue hunting licences was taken to protect Botswana's fauna, because hunting licences encourage poaching.

However, according to Prof Melville Saayman of the NorthWest University's Potchefstroom Campus, the opposite is true.

"Botswana wants to ban hunting in view of combating game poaching, but the problem is that it is going to have a reversed effect. Kenya went exactly the same way. They also banned hunting and are currently sitting with a huge game poaching problem, so much so that some of their species face total extinction."

"The strategy proposed by Botswana is short-sighted and is not going to work. Game numbers will decline and it is going to have a serious impact on the hunting and game farm industry in the country," Saayman said.

"Case studies from South Africa have shown that as soon as the hunting of a species is allowed, it leads to the breeding as well as conservation of the particular species. Botswana's policy is definitely going to lead to job losses, since it concerns professional hunters and many other professions."

According to Saayman it can, in the short term, be to the advantage of South Africa and Namibia, since professional hunters will have to find their means of livelihood elsewhere.

However, the long-term picture does not look rosy.

"As wildlife in Botswana declines, poachers will also look for another means of livelihood, and they can find it in South Africa. This can place immense pressure on our game industry."

"Game poachers from Zimbabwe and Mozambique are a big headache. Add poachers from Botswana and it can become a nightmare."

The South African Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ms Edna Molewa, recently said at a hunting indaba held at Sun City, that the government commits itself to the growth and expansion of South Africa's hunting industry.

Saayman reckons it can only have good consequences.

"This is a very positive step seen in the light that the value of this industry is approximately R6 milliard per annum and that it still has a lot of growth potential."

Kathi

From what i read, this is for government controlled properties.

Private ranches will still have hunting.

Oh yeah! You can correct ignorance, but you sure can't fix stupid, and stupid assisted by the likes of the Jouberts cannot be beat.

WTF? "HUNTING LICENSES ENCOURAGE POACHING"? What kind of imbeciles are running Botswana?!! These people are incredibly stupid. They haven't seen poaching, as poaching will be, yet. But they will soon.

http://www.huntingreport.com/t...aded_Nov_30_2012.cfm



Click on link to access Statement from Ministry of Environment



Botswana Confirms End of Tourist Hunting in 2014


By Barbara Crown, Editor

In our November 1 Email Extra Bulletin, we told Hunting Report subscribers that President of Botswana Ian Khama had announced during a campaign stop that all commercial hunting would end come 2014. That was despite a recently announced extension of elephant hunting leases through 2013.

Speculation by the hunting community, and perhaps hope, was that Khama made the statements as part of politicking efforts, as he was also offering villagers 100 percent compensation for any damages caused by elephants to crops or by lions to cattle herds. Compensation had previously been capped at 30 percent, and the area Khama was visiting was known for supporting the opposition party.

Unfortunately, Khama went on to make the same announcement about suspending commercial hunting (tourist hunting) in his State of the Nation Address on November 5. It is item number 124 in his speech and is couched in statements about increased poaching. Click on the link below to read it yourself. Also, on November 29, The Hunting Report received a press release from the Botswana Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, which states that hunting quotas will not be issued in 2014. The press release goes on to claim that sharp declines in species subject to licensed hunting has lead to this decision, implying that licensed hunting is the culprit for game declines when elephant numbers in Botswana are at an all-time high and continue to increase each year at a rate of seven percent. That continued growth has lead to habitat degradation in riverine areas and in turn has forced other game out. You can click on the link below to read the release in full.


President Khama's State of the Nation Address

Press Release Statement from Ministry of Environment

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
WTF? "HUNTING LICENSES ENCOURAGE POACHING"? What kind of imbeciles are running Botswana?!! These people are incredibly stupid. They haven't seen poaching, as poaching will be, yet. But they will soon.

WHAT KIND OF IMBECILES?? THE KIND THAT PUT FREE CONDOM DISPENSERS EVRYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY AND ARE STILL LOOKING FOR A DROP IN THE AIDS RATE

SE Angola could fill the void...not saying it will be easy.

Unfortunately this is one small step in the process of closing hunting through out the continent, when Kenya closed we all sat back , when Zambia , CAR , Ethiopia , Uganda opened and closed and closed again , we all sat back , it can't happen to us , Esp. Botswana the shining democracy in Africa ! , rumor has it the other partner of Microsoft is the money behind this , so in reality each time we buy or use a windows based platform we contribute to the funding to stop hunting , we will continue to use these platforms as we can't live without them , in the same way funds from purchases of Heinz's condiments funds the war against firearm ownership , yet you still see Heinz in many hunting camps and gun owners homes, the reality is we are complacent and don't do anything till it's affects us at our home. Africa will continue to be supported by liberal finance and hunters will continue to fund them indirectly, it's the way of the world. I am betting all the married men on this forum have wives who have Botswana diamonds such is the nature of the beast. The president has been misinformed by Joubert , Kat , Paul , and the plethora of anti hunting organizations to the extent he has little option to appease them. For every argument we gave them for hunting they have a army of advisors to oppose this view, plus they put their money where there mouth is and mobilize huge organizations , I was once in a debate with the Lion Aid group who will be responsible for the import ban on Lion trophys to the UK in the near future , they had just been with Donald Trump and Richard Branson , how much do we as hunters support these tycoons ??? , for a long time now I have advocated we are our own worst enemy .

Well then, it is past time that we started supporting ourselves. I already do not support Shell or Engen fuels in SA. Heinz will be added to my list and I make my viewpoint known to others. In all reality, the Jouberts and their ilk are in a minority, it should not be too difficult to counter them. Somewhere in the near future, Botswana is going to need aid in some form or another. American politicians should be primed by the electorate to turn down any such applications. Hunters of the World together with SCI, DSC, CIC and the NRA must surely have the numbers to make a big enough noise to counter these twats.

So is it just for public land (as someone stated above) or for all land?

quote:

Hunters of the World together with SCI, DSC, CIC and the NRA must surely have the numbers to make a big enough noise to counter these twats.

Don't hold your breath!

In all those other countries mentioned earlier, of which TZ lay forgotten, it was governments, leaders, that took a decision.
Botswana is different: "The King has spoken"!

As many Chinese as I saw in Botswana back in July, I bet they have a hand somewhere in this.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this ban is the brain child of the elephant ivory poaching syndicates. Take out the hunting community and there will be no one to see what destruction that they cause to the elephant populations.

465H&H

I was there in August. Poaching is rampant.

They are doing nothing to the Botswana citizens they catch. They are pretty serious with the Namibians they catch.

This place will be wrecked in short order.

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
I have a sneaking suspicion that this ban is the brain child of the elephant ivory poaching syndicates. Take out the hunting community and there will be no one to see what destruction that they cause to the elephant populations.

465H&H

interesting suspicion and wouldn't be out of line

An angle we have not looked at , without conspiracy theories , in terms of CITIES and the process for the once off sale of ivory stock piles , the country has to demonstrate sound elephant management practice which includes sustainable harvesting , so remove the 800 tusks taken by sport hunting and the 3-5 tons of stock pile ivory , the black market price for ivory is bound to shoot through the $2000-00 a pound roof, when it becomes an even more scarce commodity. I think you guys have brought in a whole new dimension that we have not been using in our negotiation/discussions.

Prez gets too small percentage out of Hunting Licensing fees, and the poachers pay better ...

H