Just curious, is quota transfer legal in Zimbabwe ?

quote:

Originally posted by Webster:
Just curious, is quota transfer legal in Zimbabwe ?

Not sure about the legality of it, but some well known outfitters - who are connected - have been doing it for years.

They go as far as to get concession which are not very good for certain species - and shoot those species on other concessions, but transfer the paper work to the other.

Careful who you hunt with.

Some companies had good reputations in the past, but because of change of ownership, they have gone down the drain.

It was supposedly "legal" as Zimbabwe parks authority would give an official letter to the operator to say, ok the sable from area 'A' can be hunted , and is transferred to area "B, stamped and signed etc...

So zim parks being the regulatory body entrusted to manage our wildlife, makes it by law "legal"

So now you read their latest "statement " where they claim all quota's are "AREA SPECIFIC".... Talk about double standards. I will give an example, a few years ago a certain operator managed to transfer a lion tag, originally issued for a quota in a Zimbabwe parks run concession in the Zambezi valley, this lion was shot in matetsi, on another Zimbabwe parks run concession.. 500km away. Diabolical.

We approached some members on the parks board a day before their "board meeting", and discussed the issue with them, told them what it would do to their reputation and integrity should this reach the global media like the Cecil saga. Not too mention our wildlife and conservation industries integrity .

This is a new board, only appointed a few months ago. So we have some new blood so to speak, several of them were horrified this was allowed to even take place, let alone be the norm..

We have been assured they are going to clean up their act, which judging by their latest press release / statement is starting to happen.

Well done to the board members.

Well , it sounds like a positive change. However , it seems totally unreasonable to let people get caught up in the change of position especially if they are not notified .

What do you make of the arrests? Particularly of Headman Sibanda.

Knowing his character and track record, we wouldn't be surprised if he has done the same thing... Shot a lion with no quota, or transferred quota etc...will talk to some of our guys in the know tomorrow to get details.

the worlds up in arms over Cecil ,one lion, but no one really gives a damn over 4500-6000 elephant killed / poached in the Zambezi valley, or the 7000-10 000 in sebungwe.

It took a wealthy American , Paul Allen to bring that info into the public domain, as he funded the great elephant census in conjunction with Elephants without Borders, research crowd based in Botswana . Basically 45% of valley population gone, and 75% of sebungwe (chirisa,sengwa research,chete, chizarira, only, matusadona parks etc) since the last aerial survey less then 10yrs ago.

Now our Zimbabwe parks guys can't hide those facts like before, using old outdated data and info, which by the way is how all government concession quota's have been set for the past 10 years, Couple that with unrealistic hunting quota's, quota transfers etc etc, it's no wonder our concessions are in the state they are in today.

We are hoping gone are the days of "it's not what you know, but who you know" to maybe " it's not who you know to what you know". The sad reality is 95% of parks senior management and field staff are not in their jobs because they like the bush,working with animals or are conservationist... It's a means to an end, and they get a pay cheque at the end of the month.so right from the start you have a handicap.

Hunts will continue we are fairly sure of this,it would create a legal nightmare for them to cancel hunts at this short notice,not too mention financial claims for airline bookings, hunt deposits and fees etc paid by clients, it's going to be with closer control and scrutiny from parks that's for sure.

On private land,forestry land and communal land you never had to hunt with a parks ranger, it was the "appropriate authority of the land" who controlled it, .ie. The land owner , forestrys own scouts, or rural district council scouts in the campfire areas.

National parks are basically insolvent, they have a very top heavy organization . Too many chiefs and not enough Indians unfortunately. an organization whose salary / wages bill consume in excess of 80% of their revenue generated, leaves very little or no funds for the operational running costs, let alone buying/replacing equipment so the field staff can actually get on and do their jobs.

Any business mind knows that's something that's not sustainable in the long run.