From the Editor
During the course of 2012 - that I know of - a tracker was injured by a charging elephant before his PH could stop it , two clients were injured by negligent firearm discharges , two PHs were accidentally shot by their clients and one lost his arm as a result , two PHs were seriously injured and three were killed by wounded animals . I cannot remember a year like it , but it is over now .
What will be the future of sport hunting in Botswana ? As from 2014 , the Botswana government will not issue any hunting licenses , either commercial or private . Kenya is the poster boy for lost revenue from sport hunting and increased poaching by not only villagers who derive minimal benefit from wildlife that competes with them for land and resources and commercial gangs trafficking in ivory and rhino horn . The slaughter of a family herd of eleven elephants in Tsavo National Park in January is but one example of how best not to manage your wildlife . Even as paramilitary rangers followed up the poachers - which in Africa is more likely to lead to a fire fight than an arrest - the confused were already bleating about so-called “ coercive conservation practices ” which would allow the taking of a human life in the defence of wildlife . Africa has different realities . A gang of , say , Somali poachers armed with AK-47s and possibly RPD light machine guns and RPG rocket launchers does not equate to Freddy-Bob , the local poacher “ back home ” who lives down the road in the trailer park . The simple truth is that if local communities were benefiting from revenue from sport hunting and tourism - as they will be in Botswana for but another short year - they would be a lot more inclined to look after their wildlife at a grass-roots level .
What fallout will there be from Botswana ’ s hunting ban ? Firstly , neighboring countries like Zimbabwe , Namibia and South Africa will see increased revenue as they absorb what was Botswana ’ s share of the regional hunting market . And then there will be a guaranteed increase in poaching as locals who formerly benefited from hunting revenue no longer see an advantage in conserving their wildlife .
President Ian Khama claims that hunting somehow leads to increased poaching , but the logic is a little fuzzy . Professor Melville Saayman of South Africa ’ s NorthWest University says : “ 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 Botswana authorities have been talking about this for some years now , as more and more of the continent ’ s wildlife management policies become shaped by activists not ecologists .
And the same activists have almost certainly contributed to South Africa ’ s record year for rhino poaching . 2012 saw in the region of 600 rhinos slaughtered by illegal hunters , an increase of over thirty percent over the previous year , Realists aren ’ t predicting that it will diminish in 2013 . I follow a number of forums ( fori ?) on rhino conservation , as their situation is the gravest extreme , but the same principles apply across the board . One correspondent last year referred to the various rhino conservation initiatives with a cynical and hopefully inaccurate expression I ’ d never heard - “ merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic ”. I have to believe that there is still hope for species even as endangered as the black rhinoceros , because that ’ s just in my makeup . But the solutions are not going to come easily because the problem is complex .
South African rhinos are found in national parks , provincial parks , and private reserves . Private conservators , who “ own ” about a quarter of South Africa ’ s rhinos , are expected to be wholly self-sufficient in funding their operations , while national and provincial parks receive varying degrees of funding in a cashstrapped environment that does not see wildlife management as a priority .
Law enforcement ? South Africa has emasculated its wildlife enforcement organs in recent years , and it is merely following suit in a trend that has come down from the north . Still , use what you have as best you can - there are still a lot of dedicated officers in the various national and provincial conservation infrastructures who are not ready to give up .
Undercutting the poacher ? A lot has been said recently about legalising the rhino horn trade with huge state stockpiles of seized and recovered rhino horn and harvesting horns from live rhinos , but has anyone stopped to think about what 1.3 billion people might look like ? And that ’ s just China - Vietnam is becoming a bigger and bigger player in illegal wildlife trafficking out of Africa . Dismiss the idea out of hand ? No , keep it as an option - but one that needs quite a bit more reflection .
None of the above addresses involving local communities in conservation efforts by offering tangible benefits to be reaped . Today it is the rhino , and inconceivable is it seems now , one day it may be the impala . Clearly hunters have a major role to play here .
And lastly , on a humorous note , Big Brother may be out to get me ! It ’ s difficult to procure various shooting accessories here in Zimbabwe , because we ’ re on a lot of government lists as being totally Dark Side . Plano in Texas will not ship me a tackle box , even if I promise not to insidiously craft it into a weapon of mass destruction . I can buy one from a South African supplier , at twice the price if I want one that badly , so nothing has really been achieved .
Not that this is anything new - when I came to Rhodesia in the late ‘ 70s it was the same band ( of idiots ), different tune . So , we view convention season in the ‘ States as a heaven-sent opportunity for sanctions-busting . I was looking for a few totally harmless shooting accessories - a competition magazine pouch and some shock buffers for my Colt . 45 , and some full-moon clips for my Webley . 455 . On my first try , the supplier picked up that the credit card billing address was in Zimbabwe , and cancelled the order . Fair enough , they have to do it that way and we all understand . Fortunately , I had another card that had a more PC billing address , and at first all seemed to go well . Until , that is , I got a notification that only part of my order had been shipped . I received a polite advice from the supplier , which read “ Sir , due to DDTC restrictions regarding the non-registration of manufacturers , items have been cancelled from your order .” Fortunately , the cancelled items were not one of my real priorities , and I eventually got the rest of the stuff . But I had a look at the DDTC website , and found their mission statement , which reads , in part : “ The U . S . Government views the sale , export , and retransfer of defense articles and defense services as an integral
The African Hunter Magazine is published six times per annum as a service to the world-wide hunting fraternity . The magazine is dedicated to the conservation of the wildlife resources of Africa through practical management and sustainable utilization . We are committed to promoting ethical hunting practices based on the concept of fair chase , and the fostering of goodwill among all beneficiaries of these resources .
African Hunter Vol . 18 No . 4 fishunt @ zol . co . zw adhunt @ mweb . co . za
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