Hunters take out Kruger's animals

Trophy hunters are killing the animals that attract the more than 1.39 million South African and international tourists to the Kruger National Park each year.

Hunting quotas in provincial and private reserves that share unfenced boundaries with South Africa's premier national park have reached an all-time high, and two new big game trophy-hunting concessions have been awarded in Limpopo in the past nine months.

A new hunting concession offering elephant, buffalo and lion trophies has also been awarded in Mozambique on the eastern border of Kruger.

Proposed quotas for 2008/2009 allowed for at least 70 elephants, 174 buffaloes, seven white rhinos, two lions and several other species to be hunted in provincial and private reserves that share unfenced boundaries with Kruger.

Animals move freely between Kruger and the Makuya and Mthimkulu provincial reserves, both of which have been opened to hunting recently, as well as the exclusive Associated Private Nature Reserves (Timbavati, Klaserie, Umbabat and Balule), where hunting has been allowed since the 1990s.

Trophy hunting is illegal in South Africa's national parks.

The 16 000ha Makuya Nature Reserve borders Kruger south of Pafuri Gate and the Mthimkulu Nature Reserve borders the park north of Phalaborwa. Both reserves were the subject of land claims and are run by the Limpopo provincial government in conjunction with local communities.

Wanda Mkutshulwa, the head of corporate communications for South African National Parks, said in a written response to questions from The Sunday Independent that the Associated Private Nature Reserves had a proposed "hunting offtake" for this year that included 55 elephants, 144 buffaloes, seven white rhinos, two lions, 5 003 impalas, three hippos, one leopard, seven zebras and six warthogs.

Last year, Makuya Nature Reserve had a quota of five elephants and 10 buffaloes, and Mthimkulu had a quota of 10 elephants, 20 buffaloes and six hippos.

Nyala, waterbuck and kudu are hunted in Makuya and Mthimkulu.

Mkutshulwa said the Protected Areas Act recognised that hunting was an acceptable form of sustainable use of natural resources.

Asked if hunters were using Kruger as a source of hunting stock, Mkutshulwa said: "It would be unprofessional of me to speculate on such an issue."

Staff at Mthimkulu and Makuya confirmed that animals, particularly elephants and buffaloes, regularly moved in and out of Kruger.

"There is nothing to stop them, just the river (the Luvuvhu River)," said an employee at Makuya Nature Reserve. "The river is shallow most of the time, so the animals cross whenever they want."

Advertising "Huge Buffalo and Elephant - New Area Opened in 2008", a company called Global Hunting Resources, based in the US, said on its website that the Mthimkulu Nature Reserve lay "between the confluences of the Big and Little (Groot and Klein) Letaba rivers. The hunting area is roughly 22 000 acres, and is now part of the Greater Kruger Park! All game flows freely between the park and the hunting area without the obstruction of the FENCE."

The first buffalo hunt in Mthimkulu was in September and the first elephant hunt in Makuya in October. Most of the hunters who have visited these reserves are foreigners.

"This is a disgrace," said Steve Smit of Animal Rights Africa.

"The government is dishonestly bypassing its own legislation to promote the hunting of animals from Kruger... The government has made no scientific evidence available to support (its) decision to allow this and (its) actions raise questions about (its) commitment to the responsible care of our national heritage."

Mkutshulwa said Kruger had formal written agreements with the Associated Private Nature Reserves, but agreements with the two provincial reserves were "still in the pipeline".

Trophy hunting is a subject of heated debate among property owners and staff in the Associated Private Nature Reserves. Some promote the idea as a means of raising revenue, but others are opposed to it.

The issue also worries staff at the provincial reserves. "I am not in favour of hunting, because we are trying run a tourism operation here," one employee at Makuya said. "It is a difficult thing to tell tourists that hunters are killing animals here."

A spokesman for the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said he was not aware of the number of hunting permits issued for reserves bordering Kruger. He also didn't know if trophy hunting was to be allowed in other provincial reserves, because "hunting in buffer zones (is) regulated by provincial (legislation)".

http://www.sundayindependent.co.za

Seloushunter

Tourism is what saved all of Kenya's wildlife.....Did I say that?

quote:

Originally posted by mboga biga bwana:
Hunters take out Kruger's animals

Trophy hunters are killing the animals that attract the more than 1.39 million South African and international tourists to the Kruger National Park each year.

.....

"This is a disgrace," said Steve Smit of Animal Rights Africa.

.....

Seloushunter

bwana,

Are you passing along information or do you agree with the post information?

From what I saw in Kruger park as well as the reports I have read from ecologists they need to significantly increase those Elephant quotas before they loose more habitat for other animals in Kruger park.

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by mboga biga bwana:
Hunters take out Kruger's animals

Trophy hunters are killing the animals that attract the more than 1.39 million South African and international tourists to the Kruger National Park each year.

.....

"This is a disgrace," said Steve Smit of Animal Rights Africa.

.....

Seloushunter



bwana,

Are you passing along information or do you agree with the post information?

________
Ray

Imo 95% of the hunts in RSA is "Canned Hunting".
Not for hunters just for Collectors...
Its good to have now DG hunts in RSA possible for Real hunters without 4 side High fence.

Seloushunter

quote:

Originally posted by mboga biga bwana:

Trophy hunters are killing the animals that attract the more than 1.39 million South African and international tourists to the Kruger National Park each year.

.....

"This is a disgrace," said Steve Smit of Animal Rights Africa.

I want to change this quote to be a bit closer to the real truth:

Trophy hunters Steve Smith and his Animal Rights Africa movement are killing destroying the animals ecosystem that attract the more than 1.39 million South African and international tourists to the Kruger National Park each year.

.....

"This is a disgrace," said Steve Smit say Andrew McLaren of Animal Rights Africa a Free State Professional Hunter, true nature lover, scientist and amateur participant in discussions of conservation issues.

The Kruger National Parks needs to very urgently remove thousands of elephant from the ecosystem to preserve nature for our future generation. Steve Smith and his f%$##ing movement has absolutely no mandate to grant animals - in this case elephants - the right to destroy that ecosystem through overpopulation. By destroying the ecosystem that frigging animal no-rights movement and their equally stupid lunatic fringe other 'rights' movements in cahoots with ill-informed true animal lovers are depriving my grandchildren from their future enjoyment of a well managed Kruger National Park!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

quote:

Not for hunters just for Collectors...

just a quistion man?are you serius? come and hunt with me by foot in a week and then you can answer that quistion again!!!!

This article by Ron Thompson makes very interesting reading: http://www.shakariconnection.c...lephants-in-knp.html

mboga biga bwana

You clearly don't know your arse from your elbow.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
This article by Ron Thompson makes very interesting reading: http://www.shakariconnection.c...lephants-in-knp.html

Steve,

I love your site! That said, I found this article on elephant culling to be extraordinarly well thought out and informative. Unfortunately the emotional and illogical human reaction ws not addressed completely. But then again, how do you address the absurd.

Thanks or posting this.

Jeff

Jeff,

Glad you like the site and hope you find it useful.

If you're referring to the article I posted the link to, it was written by Ron Thompson who I personally consider one of the most knowledgeable 'Elephant men' alive today. Sadly, he's almost treated as a voice in the wilderness by many conservationists etc because they see him a bit radical......... personally, I reckon he's the one in the right and the others are in the wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
personally, I reckon he's the one in the right and the others are in the wrong.

+1

Excellent. Fire up the grill and serve the tourists Kruger meat on the barbie!


There must have been great trophies taken in this area. Are there any big tuskers taken from the concessions bordering kruger?

Any from AR hunted this area? Please advise.


dale

[quote]The Kruger National Parks needs to very urgently remove thousands of elephant from the ecosystem to preserve nature for our future generation. Steve Smith and his f%$##ing movement has absolutely no mandate to grant animals - in this case elephants - the right to destroy that ecosystem through overpopulation. By destroying the ecosystem that frigging animal no-rights movement and their equally stupid lunatic fringe other 'rights' movements in cahoots with ill-informed true animal lovers are depriving my grandchildren from their future enjoyment of a well managed Kruger National Park!quote]

Well said Andrew!

quote:

Originally posted by daleW:
Excellent. Fire up the grill and serve the tourists Kruger meat on the barbie!


There must have been great trophies taken in this area. Are there any big tuskers taken from the concessions bordering kruger?

Any from AR hunted this area? Please advise.


dale

Don't get too excited...... the KNP BIG tuskers are known as the magnificent 7 and anyone that shot one would get tied to a tree for leopard bait by the game dept in less time than it'd take for the sound of the shot to die out.

Joking aside, Charl should be able to tell you more about it.

Aaron (Global Hunting Resources) said he started getting a lot of hate mail, had no idea why or what the source was. Apparently it was over this article that appeared in a UK tabloid.

He said he had no idea they had used his info in an article.

The UK antis are a bunch of nucking futters....

They targeted me for a while when I lived there and it really ain't funny.

Here in the southern US, there has been quite a bit of push back against the anti's. In most southern states, harassing a lawful hunter will get you a ticket at the least and an arrest at the most.
However, while game enforcement is usually done well here, the actual numbers crunching by various wildlife departments is hit and miss. Bag limits, season dates, and weapons requirements have lots to do with tradition (not the good kind either), outdated methodology, and short sightedness.
At some point the burgeoning US whitetail deer population is bound to crash just like Kruger will. Either that, or we get comfortable with their substantial migration to suburban areas (already in progress).

Now, if I could only find a way to convince those freaks on the anti-whaling ships that Somali pirates were actually whaling in the Indian Ocean, I'd solve a good many people's problems in just a few days.

ChetNC

quote:

Now, if I could only find a way to convince those freaks on the anti-whaling ships that Somali pirates were actually whaling in the Indian Ocean, I'd solve a good many people's problems in just a few days.
ChetNC

That´s the best idee I have seen so far today.
That would keep Mr Watson and his nit wits out of Norwegian and Icelandic waters while we do our annual big game hunt, the whaling

quote:

That would keep Mr Watson and his nit wits out of Norwegian and Icelandic waters while we do our annual big game hunt, the whaling

they need to shoot as many elephants as they can !

what Andrew said