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CAPE TOWN- South Africa's environment minister announced long-awaited restrictions on hunting yesterday, declaring he was sickened by wealthy tourists shooting tame lions from the back of a truck and felling rhinos with bow and arrows.

In addition, lions bred in captivity would have to be released into the open for at least two years before they could be hunted. Van Schalkwyk said a previously proposed six-month delay would not give lions enough time to develop self-defense instincts.

"Hunting should be about fair chase- testing the wits of a hunter against that of the animal," he told a press conference. "Over the years that got eroded and now we are trying to re-establish that principle."

South Africa is famous as home to the Big Five animals— lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and buffalo. Its flagship Kruger National Park attracts hundreds of thousands of camera toting visitors every year. Some 9,000 privately owned game farms and other government-run reserves also offer visitors a taste of the wild.

But it has become also become a choice destination for wealthy gun-toting tourists willing to pay more than $20,000 to take home a "trophy" lion or rhino's head.

The new law, which enters into force June 1, bans the hunting of animals that have been tranquilized. It outlaws bows and arrows for big predators and thick skinned animals like rhinos - one of the practices singled out by Van Schalkwyk as particularly appalling. And it bans the use of vehicles to chase the animal until it is too tired and terrified to flee for its life.

"To see people who are half drunk on the back of a bakkie (truck) hunting lions which are in fact tame animals is quite abhorrent," Van Schalkwyk— himself an avid hunter— said.

But conservationists said the law would be difficult to enforce and did not go far enough because it stopped short of an outright ban on intensive breeding of lions, leopards and other predators.

"The big thing for South Africa would be to stand up and say 'we are conservation leaders and this industry is immoral and unethical and we are not going to allow it,'" said Louise Joubert of the San Wildlife Trust, which campaigned for tougher regulations.

She said it made little difference whether a lion was freed for six months or two years before being hunted because once it had got used to being reared and fed by people, it was hard to break that trust.

Joubert said there should be an outright ban on intensive breeding projects, which often remove cubs from the mother at birth so the lioness mates more quickly, and often destroy female cubs as male lions fetch a higher trophy price.

The South African Predator Breeders' Association, which was set up last year to lobby against the regulations, has warned that breeders may be forced to euthanise the estimated 3-5,000 lions they have reared if they are unable to offer them to foreign hunters and can no longer afford to feed them.

"We have asked for an outright ban," said Joubert. "If it means that four to five thousand lions have to be euthanised, it would be a tragic day but it is the only way for this country to get a grip, so be it."

Earlier this year, the breeders' association threatened legal action against the government to claim for compensation. Association officials did not return phone calls asking for comment Tuesday.

However, the Professional Hunters' Association of South Africa, whose members accompany foreign clients, said it welcomed the new regulations as a chance to clean up the image of the South African hunting industry by clamping down on lion breeders who account for only about 3 percent of game farms.

"A small sector has given the whole industry a bad name," said Stewart Dorrington, president of the hunting body.

Up to 7,000 foreign tourists visit South Africa each year on hunting safaris, each spending roughly $18,000, Dorrington said. About 55 percent of hunters are from North America and the rest from Europe and other countries.

Van Schalkwyk said the regulations marked the start of a "clean up of the hunting industry" and would in due course be extended to other animals like antelope species.

Hunting is an integral part of South African life because of its cultural traditions and importance to the economy.

"We gave our firm intention more than two years ago to deal with the issue," he said. "Many of the lion breeders thought they were empty threats and did not take it seriously. This is a practice that cannot be defended in any way."

Labels: canned hunting, hunting, lions, rhinos

CAPE TOWN— Lions bred in captivity to be shot and killed by a pleasure-seeking tourist. Rhinos felled by bow and arrow for fun. Zebras bred with donkeys to slow their escape from hunters.

A panel of experts highlighted the darker side of South Africa's booming wildlife industry on Tuesday and recommended a total ban on "canned hunting"- the release of captive-bred animals to be killed for sport with no chance of escaping their human predators.



Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the government would introduce legislation next year to salvage South Africa's reputation as an international haven for wildlife.

"We want to stop the approach of 'anything goes' in terms of hunting and crossbreeding," said van Schalkwyk.

The hunting of lions and other big cats bred in captivity purely to die at the barrel of a gun will be outlawed.

The Department of the Environment said the new regulations will make it illegal for anyone to kill large predators raised in an enclosed reserve to blunt their survival instincts.

It said it would also ban the shooting of lions, cheetahs and leopards in a "controlled environment," where hunters had an unfair advantage over the beasts, as well as forbidding the killing of tranquilized animals.

"The department shall never condone unacceptable hunting practices including so-called canned hunting," it said.

The proposed laws were drawn up following three years of consultations with hunting industry and conservation groups.

South Africa is famous as home to the Big Five— lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and buffalo. Its flagship Kruger National Park attracts in excess a million camera-toting visitors annually.

Some 9,000 privately owned game farms and other government-run reserves also offer visitors a taste of the wild.

South Africa has become a choice destination for those willing to pay a high price to take home a prized trophy.

The TRAFFIC wildlife trade monitoring network said that in 2004, 190 lions worth an estimated $3.3 million were hunted in 2004 by foreigners: $17,500 each. Nearly 5,500 kudu- valued at $5.3 million in all- were also taken, along with 45 leopards worth an estimated $250,000.

Hunting is an integral part of South African life because of its cultural traditions and importance to the economy.

Minister van Schalkwyk is himself an avid hunter.

But the Government panel set up to examine the law found horrific examples of abuse, including the widespread use of predators born and bred in captivity.

Labels: ban, canned hunting, hunting, lions, van schalkwyk

PRETORIA- As South Africa moves to regulate hunting, staggering new statistics show "biltong hunters" are killing more than a million wild animals a year.

These local hunters are quite apart from foreign "trophy" hunters who come to South Africa to shoot about 40,000 animals a year, including lion, white rhino, leopard and elephant.

These figures and new research, which shows the hunting industry is even bigger than previously thought and is worth almost R4-billion a year to South Africa, comes as the government this week considers steps towards the regulation and cleaning up of the industry.

Hunting regulations in South Africa vary considerably from province to province.

The new statistics come from a study undertaken by North West University's Institute for Tourism Management and Leisure Studies in Potchefstroom, which estimates the 200 000 "biltong hunters" spend at least R3-billion rand a year while hunting.

The government calculates that foreign hunters contribute a further R800-million a year to the industry.

The latest figures from Professional Hunters Association of South Africa (Phasa) show that 7,342 foreign hunters, about 53 percent of whom are from the United States, shot at least 39,130 animals between October 2004 and September 2005. This includes at least 305 lions, 51 elephants, 74 white rhinos, 202 buffalos and 34 leopards.

According to Phasa the average cost of a trophy white rhino is about $29,000 (R200,000), an elephant $21,000, a lion $17,390, a leopard $8,000 and a buffalo $7,880.

The South African government is strongly supportive of hunting and argues that the "sustainable utilisation" of wild animals is both a morally and financially acceptable practice that contributes towards the economy and helps create jobs, particularly in rural areas.

Michele Pickover of Xwe African Wildlife, an animal rights non-governmental organisation, said that while large amounts of money are spent on hunting, the industry is neither ethical nor sustainable.

"The hunting industry in South Africa is merely farming with wild animals. It is undergoing unsustainable growth and revenues are not reinvested in the preservation of wilderness and the protection of wild animals. What South Africa needs is a holistic, non-consumptive and ethically driven ecotourism industry.

"A 2004 study estimated that ecotourism on private game reserves generated more than 15 times the income derived from livestock and game rearing or foreign hunters and created more jobs," Pickover said.

Hunting regulations in South Africa vary considerably from province to province and are poorly enforced.

"Canned hunting"- animals reared to be shot are hunted in confined areas- and other malpractices within the industry have been widely condemned by hunting organisations and opponents of hunting.

Dr Peet van der Merwe, a senior lecturer at North West University, said: "The research is the most comprehensive done and shows South African hunters contribute a huge amount to local economies.

"The money is generated in the country and spent in the country so contributes directly to the economy."

Van der Merwe said that there that there were about 6,330 exempted game farms- hunting is allowed all year round on exempted game farms- in South Africa covering about 14.7 million hectares. All of South Africa's national parks cover a combined area of 3.7 million hectares.

Van der Merwe said that game farms comprise about 17,9 percent of all agricultural land in South Africa. About 50 percent of game farms are in Limpopo province and the study showed that the most commonly hunted animals are springbok, impala, blesbuck, kudu, warthog, blue wildebeest and gemsbuck.

South Africa is one of the top hunting destinations in Africa and is heavily promoted at international hunting shows and conferences. Most hunting takes place on private game farms but is also permitted in a number of provincial and private game and nature reserves.

Hunting is allowed in, among others, the Pilanesberg National Park, Madikwe Game Reserve, and the Borakalalo and Botsolano Game Reserves run by North West province, the Songimvelo Game Reserve and Mthetomusha Game Reserve run by Mpumalanga province and the Manyaleti Game Reserve and Letaba Ranch run by Limpopo province.

Both Manyaleti and Letaba share unfenced boundaries with the Kruger National Park (KNP) - raising fears that animals from the Kruger are being hunted.

Hunting also takes place on a number or private game reserves including the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR), which comprises the Timbavati, Umbabat, Klaserie and Balule private nature reserves. These reserves also share an unfenced boundary with the KNP.

An elephant shot and wounded by a hunter in the Umbabat Private Nature Reserve in March is believed to have fled into the KNP. During the same month landowners, lodge owners and staff in the APNR were also outraged at the hunting and wounding of a well-known lion.

The draft norms and standards, published earlier this year by the department of environmental affairs and tourism, recommend that in future the minister himself must approve all hunting that takes place in areas adjoining national parks where fences have been removed.

The document also recommends that provincial MECs must personally approve hunting in provincial reserves.

Labels: canned hunting, hunting, statistics

JOHANNESBURG- Limpopo Province's conservation department has been caught with a smoking gun in its hands.

It has advertised for sale various predators, some of which were previously rescued from breeding facilities supplying the canned hunting industry.

This means the animals could find themselves bought by the big-bucks canned hunting brigade, and returned to the very fate from which they were once spared.

Up for grabs are several lions, nine endangered African wild dogs and a young Bengal tiger.

Louise Joubert, of SanWild Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, in Gravelotte, Limpopo, was horrified to discover that the eight lions in their custody were being advertised for sale.

"In a tender document issued on November 15, under the heading Disposals, I saw various animals advertised for sale," she said. "Under lots two and three were Jespha and his pride, who we have been caring for since November 2003, with the help of international donor funding."

Joubert, however, is not prepared to leave the lions to their fate, and is ready for a battle. She is bringing a High Court application against the department to stop the sale.

An emotional Joubert said she had just received a phone call from UK donors who had already raised £10,000 (about R111,900) towards the costs of a court hearing.

"They said they will never desert their lions, never just leave them to this horrible fate."

She spoke fondly of the leader of the pride, the magnificent Jespha, and of Nikana, who had given birth to two cubs, which donors named Rongo and Aroha.

"This was the first time Nikana had had an opportunity to raise her own cubs. Previously they were always removed from her, and hand-raised, forcing her to come into season again," said Joubert, adding this was customary in breeding centres.

Breeding

Explaining how SanWild came to be home to the animals, Joubert said the lions had been the basis of a controversial court case - in which an Edwin Claasens was found guilty of setting up a breeding project for hunting purposes.

At that time an agreement was reached between the Department of Economic Development, Finance and Tourism and SanWild. SanWild Trust would raise international donor funding to construct a temporary holding facility for confiscated predators.

The department did not have such a facility, nor the funding to feed and care for the animals. Joubert said SanWild hoped not only to offer the animals a chance of a better life, but to help the authorities curb illegal breeding and hunting of lions in particular.

Inherent in the agreement, she said, was that the lions would not be sold back into the captive breeding and hunting industry. The department would also work with the trust to find suitable end destinations for animals that were the subject of court cases.

However, by November 2004 relations had soured. The trust believed the department had little interest in the animals' long-term welfare, so suggested the department should contribute towards the animals' financial upkeep. The first payment was only received in June 2005.

Now Joubert believes the department intends setting up its own facility for handling confiscated animals. "But if they are going to sell them off to the canned hunters, then they are just as bad as them, and cannot call themselves a conservation body," said Joubert.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare meanwhile commissioned a private investigator - conservation and wildlife journalist Ian Michler - to look into the captive breeding of predators in this country.

Hotspots

The fund's Christina Pretorius said Michler had identified Limpopo, North West and Free State as the hotspots.

They had also proved less than co-operative. "We asked what species they were captively breeding, the number of animals, where it was taking place, and what the animals were being bred for," said Pretorius.

Conflicting information had been provided. Limpopo, for instance, had maintained there were only seven registered captive-predator holding facilities in the province. However, chairman of the Limpopo Carnivore Association, Piet Warren told Michler that at least 32 facilities had been established in the province and were holding about 400 to 500 lions.

Michler further found that at many facilities, commercially viable animals were fed, while others were left to starve. In most instances, enclosures were tiny and cramped.

Pretorius said exotic animals such as pumas, jaguars, tigers (about 60) and grey wolves were also being kept in captivity. A spokesman for the Department of Economic Development, Finance and Tourism, Tseli Moss, said, "The matter is sub judice, so we have no comment."

Labels: ban, canned hunting, hunting, lions

LONDON- South Africa is opposing an attempt to ban international trade in lion trophies and skins, despite evidence that the animal's population in Africa has declined by almost three quarters in less than a decade.

Kenya, which proposes the ban, says it is necessary to save the lion from extinction following research showing the population in sub-Saharan Africa has declined by 70 per cent since 1996.

Lions in west and central Africa are in the greatest danger. There are now thought to be only 23,000 of the big cats in the wild.

A ban, to be tabled at an international meeting in the autumn, would place lion products in the same category as those using ivory.

Lions once existed in all suitable habitats in the region, but are now fragmented and confined to 89 locations, almost half of which contain 70 or fewer animals.

Half of the entire population is found in only five locations: the Selous game reserve in Tanzania, the Serengeti and Masai Mara of Kenya and Tanzania, the Kruger National Park in South Africa and the Okavango Delta of Botswana.

A proposal will be made during the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora to include lions in Appendix 1 of the convention. The assembly opens in Bangkok on Oct 2.

A ban would affect all commercial trade in lion products.

The European Union takes a common position at such meetings and intense diplomacy has already begun, with proposals concerning the lion, great white shark, black and white rhino and elephant among the most controversial.

Some conservation groups, such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare, say there should be no trophy hunting for lions at all. They calculate that 724 lion trophies are traded each year, together with 274 lion skins and 200 skulls.

Recent evidence, they say, indicates that trophy hunting of male lions disrupts breeding cycles and leads to the breakdown of family groups, resulting in young males taking over the pride and killing cubs that are not their own.

Listing the lion under Appendix 1 would not mean the end of trophy hunting because hunters take trophies with permission and for their own use, and not for trade.

But it would mean that the 166 countries that have signed the convention would have to approve trophy export quotas.

The ban is opposed by countries with healthy lion populations, including South African, Namibia and Botswana.

One official pointed out that lions in the greatest danger were in west and central Africa, where little trade was recorded. It was therefore unclear what purpose a ban would serve.

A spokesman for the Environment Department said yesterday that Britain was taking an "open" position on the proposal and talking to its EU partners.

But another official added: "We would have serious doubts about whether an Appendix 1 listing for the lion would solve the problem."

Also likely to cause controversy are proposals by South Africa and Namibia to trade ivory, elephant leather and hair from their healthy populations. Swaziland wants to reduce restrictions on its white rhinos to allow exports of hunting trophies and live animals.

Labels: hunting, lion