National Parks slammed for involvement in elephant deaths
http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
20 February 2012

Zimbabwe’s National Parks Authority has been slammed for its involvement in
recent elephant killings, after it emerged that Parks staff killed three of
the animals within a conservancy last week.

The employees from Chipinda Pools went to Chiredzi River Conservancy last
Thursday and shot three elephants, including two lactating cows and one
young bull. It brings to seven the number of elephants killed in the
Conservancy in the past 35 days, where the elephant numbers are dwindling.

According to Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation
Task Force (ZCTF), the Park staff are working with illegal land invaders,
who have all but taken over the Chiredzi River Conservancy. He explained
that the invaders are deliberately trying to get rid of the wildlife there,
to make way for farming.

“The settlers claimed that the animals had attacked them and instead of
investigating these claims, the Parks staff just went in and shot them,”
Rodrigues said, blaming ‘criminal elements’ within the Parks Authority.

The Parks employees removed the ivory from the dead animals and left the
land invaders to remove the meat from the carcasses. Rodrigues said the ZCTF
is still trying to track down where the ivory has gone.

Rodrigues meanwhile had strong criticism for National Parks, saying: “It
appears that National Parks headquarters in Harare are not aware of what
their counterparts are doing in the Lowveld and it is of great concern that
the guardians of our wildlife are participating in this criminal activity.”

Rodrigues meanwhile said the increasing demand for ivory and the complete
lack of the rule of law in Zimbabwe is fuelling this kind of assisted
poaching, with detrimental affects on the elephant population.

“Parks insists that there is an abundance of elephant in Zimbabwe, but this
just isn’t true. In Chiredzi alone there were 72 elephants, now there are
just 40,” Rodrigues said.

The demand for ivory has seen poaching levels across Africa soar in recent
weeks. According to the Reuters news agency, Cameroon’s elephant population
has been seriously hit, with poachers killing more than 200 elephants in
just six weeks.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) reportedly called the
killings a “massacre’ that has “no comparison to those of the preceding
years.” Meanwhile, the conservation group TRAFFIC has warned of a surge in
elephant poaching in Africa to meet Asian demand for tusks.

I wonder why all the "greenies" are not in Zim protesting this kinda stuff...........

God bless Zim and Zim people. They sure are getting a bad deal.

.

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
I wonder why all the "greenies" are not in Zim protesting this kinda stuff...........
.

They're not there because that's not where the television cameras are.

Sad to hear, but elephant move and will seek more protected areas.

25 years ago there were virtually no Jumbo on the Zambian side of Lower Zambezi. Our bank was repopulated solely from Mana Pools across the river. Now there are too many.

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
I wonder why all the "greenies" are not in Zim protesting this kinda stuff...........

God bless Zim and Zim people. They sure are getting a bad deal.

.

The greenies do not care about the welfare of the animals.

All they care about is stopping hunting.

and everything eolse they don't like

I think this is another example of why so many of us are totally against the current "hunting" within Hwange, and Nyakasanga/Sapi too.

Its not that both can't be viable, and a good management tool/money generator, they certainly can. But currently, the monkeys are running the Zoo, with little to no over-sight by those who are supposedly in charge. This is just another example of it. In fact, those in charge are often times, involved as well.

Thus, until blanket reform takes place. My opinion is, anyone who is participating in these hunts, be they, clients/outfitters/ph's or agents, are contributing directly to the problem. Like many of the participants, I make my entire living from the "hunting industry". But, I don't believe the money is more important than the protection of the resource, and the wildlife we all love so much! Its up to us, to rally together and help put a stop to all of this.

quote:

The greenies do not care about the welfare of the animals.

All they care about is stopping hunting.

I once tried to explain over population in areas and how the over grazing of such areas could create a mass extinction of all grazers in the area if sound management hunting did not take palce. the answer was that it would be natural if they died of starvation at least they werent going to be shot


First Hwange now this. . . . Best of luck to our Zimbabwe operaters and outfitters. I hope this is not the beginning of the end of Zim wildlife.

Mass extinction from overgrazing is extremely rare if it ever occurs at all. The reason being is that if it occurred then all gazers would be extinct by now. When grazers or browsers overgraze, the population drops to the point where over grazing no longer occurs and the habitat restores it self assuming that soil isn't lost. The habitat then regenerates and the populations increase again.

465H&H

quote:

Posted Feb 21, 8:32 AM Hide Post
Mass extinction from overgrazing is extremely rare if it ever occurs at all. The reason being is that if it occurred then all gazers would be extinct by now. When grazers or browsers overgraze, the population drops to the point where over grazing no longer occurs and the habitat restores it self assuming that soil isn't lost. The habitat then regenerates and the populations increase again.

The classic example of this is the North Kaibab (the plateau north of Grand Canyon in Arizona) and its mule deer. It took a great many years for the habitat and the deer herd to recover. It does not happen overnight.

Overgrazing is not the only symptom of overpopulation of wild animals. Disease is another. Arizona and New Mexico have lost entire populations of desert sheep in certain mountain ranges to disease.

Massive dieoffs from overgrazing and disease are just two examples showing how nature manages by crisis.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
assuming that soil isn't lost.
465H&H

That is the real problem, especially in realatively dry places like much of southern and eastern Africa. Elephant overpopulation seems uniquely efficient at turning forest into desert. Soil formation in dry climates can take a long time, even on the time scales I'm used to and I'm a geologist.

Dean

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:

quote:

Posted Feb 21, 8:32 AM Hide Post
Mass extinction from overgrazing is extremely rare if it ever occurs at all. The reason being is that if it occurred then all gazers would be extinct by now. When grazers or browsers overgraze, the population drops to the point where over grazing no longer occurs and the habitat restores it self assuming that soil isn't lost. The habitat then regenerates and the populations increase again.

The classic example of this is the North Kaibab (the plateau north of Grand Canyon in Arizona) and its mule deer. It took a great many years for the habitat and the deer herd to recover. It does not happen overnight.

Overgrazing is not the only symptom of overpopulation of wild animals. Disease is another. Arizona and New Mexico have lost entire populations of desert sheep in certain mountain ranges to disease.

Massive dieoffs from overgrazing and disease are just two examples showing how nature manages by crisis.

Bill Quimby

Let's not forget what caused the habitat crash on the Kaibab. Teddy Roosevelt was so impressed with the deer on the Kaibab that he ordered government trappers to kill all the mountain lions in the area in order to "protect" the deer. When the top predator was gone, the deer responded in a spectacular fashion. There was an explosion of the deer population, only to be followed by the crash when there was nothing left to eat. This was a man-caused problem.

You're right about this being a classic example. This was one of the first lessons taught to us on the way to becoming wildlife biologists: you can't stockpile wildlife. One way or another, the habitat can only support so much.