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African Indaba e-Newsletter Volume 13, Number 3

For hunter-conservationists and all people who are interested in the conservation, management and

sustainable use of Africa’s wild natural resources. African Indaba is the official CIC Newsletter on African affairs, with editorial independence. For more information about the International Council

for Game and Wildlife Conservation CIC go to www.cic-wildlife.org

Volume 13, Issue No 3 African Indaba eNewsletter June 2015

WORLD FORUM FOR SUSTAINABLE HUNTING Gerhard R Damm

Record numbers of participants and huge exhibition halls with tens of thousands of people wandering between booths of hunting outfitters and equipment manufacturers are not the trademark of the CIC. Nevertheless, the 62nd General Assembly of the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation, or in short the CIC (the acronym of the French Conseil International de la Chasse et de la Conservation du Gibier, under which the organization was founded in 1928), has developed indeed into the World Forum for Sustainable Hunting.

The April 2015 General Assembly in Bulgaria at the Riu Pravets Resort Hotel was opened by H.E. Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria, addressing an illustrious selection of guests and CIC members. The list included Desislava Taneva, Minister of Agriculture and Food of Bulgaria; Dr. Pia Bucella, European Commission Directorate General Environment; Dr. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); Karl-Heinz Florenz, Member of the European Parliament and President of the Parliamentary Intergroup Biodiversity, Hunting and Countryside; Prof. Dr. Ladislav Miko, Acting Director General of DG Health and Food Safety of the European Commission; as well as leaders and representatives of major hunting associations from around the world.

In his welcome speech, CIC President Bernard Lozé reviewed the four priorities of the CIC strategic vision: Combat Wildlife Crime – Promote Wildlife Conservation – Partner with international Organizations – Sustain our Global Cultural Heritage.

H.R.H. Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta from Zambia outlined the importance of community involvement in the rehabilitation of entire African landscapes in particular in the huge Simalaha Community Conservancy in his native Barotseland. He said that “as a people whose traditional

African Indaba Volume 13 Issue 3 Contents

World Forum For Sustainable Hunting ..…………………….1 Stewart Dorrington On Hunting And Game Breeding ..3 A Pioneering Wildlife College …………………………………….4 Community Versus Enforcement: Responses To Illegal Wildlife Trade …………………………………………………………...5 Whose Elephants Are They? .........................................7 Kunene Conservancies Still Strong On Vision ..............11 Killing For Conservation In A Big Game Reserve .........12 Where's The Wildlife? ………………………………………….….14 Lion Hunt Quotas Could Be Good For Animals But Bad For Humans ................................................................16 Abstracts Of Recently Published Wildlife Papers …….18 News From And About Africa ………………………………….21 Black Rhino Hunter 100% Certain He’s Helping Survival Of The Species ...........................................................25 African Indaba Interviews Corey Knowlton ...............26 Air Transport And Illegal Trade In Wildlife ………………28 Tribute To Werner Trense, 1922-2015 …………………...29 Shane’s Corner ……………………………………………………….32

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culture and way of life revolves around sustainable use of natural resources, we simply have no choice but to safeguard it this proud [wildlife] heritage”. This speech was followed by a lively podium discussion moderated by the CIC Ambassador Dr. Ali Kaka, Kenya. Dr. Kaush Arha, CIC Vice President (USA), Dr. Adelheim Meru, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (Tanzania) and Senior Chief Yeta agreed that “sustainable hunting is one of the few types of land use, which provides enough incentives and benefits to preserve landscapes in their natural form”. Hunters are a key element in this conservation success.

This General Assembly also discussed in depth the increasing threats from wildlife diseases, hence the motto Healthy Wildlife – Healthy People. Dr. Bernard Vallat, Director General of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) presented a strong case for hunter training in the detection, monitoring, and control of wildlife diseases. He announced that OIE and CIC are planning establishment of a Center for Wildlife Diseases in Bulgaria in partnership and would jointly work towards enhancing the communication and cooperation between the hunting and veterinary communities. In the working sessions Prof. Dr. Christian Gortázar (Spain) reviewed the geographic, economic, and conservation impact of wildlife diseases like avian influenza, African swine fever, and tuberculosis; Prof. Dr. Torsten Mörner (Sweden) discussed the role of hunters in managing wildlife diseases.

The European Union Large Carnivore Platform meeting on the day preceding the official opening brought together 120 wildlife researchers and managers, as well as hunters from the region on the topic of conserving predators like lynx, brown bear and wolf, etc. They discussed three key issues: transboundary cooperation, moving from conflicts to coexistence, and prioritized key issues for large carnivores in the Balkan and Carpathian regions. The Platform members were informed by Finnish Reindeer Herders’ Association of their plans to convene a second regional workshop in Finland later this year. Following up this pre-congress meeting, the CIC Applied Science and Policy & Law Divisions investigated the role of hunters in the conservation of large carnivores in the countries around the Pannonian Basin with speakers like Dr. Harald Egerer (Austria) representing the Carpathian Convention, Prof. Dr. Ovidiu Ionescu (Romania) and Prof. Dr. Klaus Hackländer (Austria).

The CIC Culture Division presented some fascinating insights by international experts like Dr. Madeleine Nyman (Finland) and Hannes Siege (Germany) on teaching conservation to young children and connecting hunting heritage and conservation. The keynote address of Dr. Shane Mahoney (Canada) One Natural World, One Humanity, One Chance… Conservation Matters left the audience spell-bound.

In the sessions of the Artemis and Young Opinion Working Groups, Edson Gandiwa (Chinhoyi University, Zimbabwe) and Patience Zisadza (Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area, Zimbabwe) discussed issues surrounding large mammals and local people’s knowledge and perceptions of wildlife.

Dr. Arha, Dr. Meru, Dr. Kaka and H.R.H. Inyambo Yeta


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An important side event of the 62nd General Assembly was the first-ever meeting of CIC State members, where representatives of 15 governments discussed wildlife conservation and sustainable hunting with the CIC Executive Committee members. The first follow-up actions from this meeting are already well under way when you read this article.

The 63rd General Assembly of the CIC will take place in April 2016 in Brussels in cooperation with the European Landowners’ Organization (ELO) and the Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU (FACE).

STEWART DORRINGTON ON HUNTING AND GAME BREEDING Editor’s Note: In the last issue of African Indaba we published several articles on the debate on hunting and game breeding in South Africa. We have now received a letter from Stewart Dorrington, a highly experienced South African professional hunter and outfitter and past president of the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (PHASA). With permission of Stewart, we share this letter with our readers:

For hunting to have a future in the world, it is imperative that hunting is supported by a sound conservation ethic. If hunting does not contribute to conservation, the public will eventually close all hunting down. The animal rights groups are attempting this with growing success. They have just succeeded in persuading Australia to ban the import of any lion trophies and products from SA as they public want canned lion hunting shut down!! They are now moving their campaign to Europe and then the USA.

If we can demonstrate publicly that hunting contributes greatly to conservation, then it is unlikely that the animal rights groups will be able to persuade the public to support the closure of hunting. At this moment in time, all hunting associations in South Africa and around the world should be making a concerted attempt and investment in getting that message to the public.

Taking it further, without a hunting community, there will not be a game ranching community. Hunters are the consumptive end user of the game that is produced by game farmers. Venison, skin and horns are other lesser earners. Hunters pay for conservation on private land.

Hunting also benefits provincial and national parks. Even if these parks do not hunt, they sell excess game which is bought by game ranchers and the final consumptive end user is the hunter. So hunters indirectly benefit all national and provincial parks that sell live game!!

Thus it is vital to the game ranching industry that they look after the hunter first and foremost. If there are no hunters, only the game farms where tourism is sustainable will survive, and there are maybe only a couple of them that are profitable and sustainable on tourism alone! The hunters are the cornerstone of private conservation in South Africa; they are the foundation of the wildlife industry. It would be good for the wildlife industry to listen to the voice of hunters as there is growing anxiety amongst hunters as to the direction the game farming industry is moving.

Currently, there is a growing perception amongst hunters in SA and around the world, that hunting in SA is becoming tame. Many animals offered to hunters are viewed as "farmed" animals. The majority of hunters do not want such hunting. As a hunting outfitter who markets abroad, it is becoming harder and harder to sell SA hunting. The canned lion industry has done enormous damage to the image of hunting in SA, but our image is being further damaged by the proliferation of intensive game farming and color variants and the perception that this creates. I am neither a


http://www.europeanlandowners.org/

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scientist nor a geneticist, but I am both a game farmer and a hunting outfitter and I notice the perception of hunters both in SA and abroad.

My greatest concern comes in with the various color variants and the continued attempts by ranchers to line breed any color aberrations. There is a very limited demand for these animals for hunting. In fact, most hunters I speak to despise them! However, if hunters voice their opinion and speak out about their dislike of such color variants, the game ranching industry lashes out at them and attempts to ridicule them ... even though they represent the consumers of the game ranchers’ product!

Not only are the majority of these color variants not wanted by hunters, they contribute further to the negative perception that all hunting in SA is canned or farmed, and thus continue to erode the international marketability and credibility of safari hunting in SA. Many hunters, outfitters and conservationists who share my concerns don`t speak out for fear of causing conflict. The game farming industry should do a survey of the hunting outfitters (over 100 of them) who marketed in the USA this year and garner some honest feedback about the demand for the products they are now producing as fast as they can. If the hunter is not the end user, who is? When new entrants stop entering the color variant market the industry will collapse. It’s not sustainable.

Once again, if hunting doesn`t support a good conservation ethic it has no future. Without hunters there will be no healthy game farming industry. In my opinion the game ranching industry is building its massive house on sand and one day it will collapse, ruining many ignorant investors who have put their pensions and life savings into worthless freaks of nature.

A PIONEERING WILDLIFE COLLEGE Kevin Robertson, Southern African Wildlife College

The Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) was established in 1996 by the World Wide Fund for Nature, South Africa (WWF-SA) in cooperation with stakeholders such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC). SAWC’s graduates are managers and conservationists working in diverse fields such as nature-based tourism, trans-frontier conservation area management and capacity building at the community level.

SAWC is situated in a natural lowveld environment, 10 km west of the Orpen Gate of the Kruger National Park. The College itself is 2 km north on a good gravel road and has access to a number of Big Five conservation training areas. The campus blends well with the natural environment and the buildings have innovative energy and water saving features. The college offers full time programs which run for a full year and cover a broad range of conservation management


http://www.wildlifecollege.org.za/

http://www.wildlifecollege.org.za/





skills in a range of topics such as wildlife management, nature-based tourism, community-based natural resource management and environmental studies.

Committed individual organizations and trusts/foundations make it possible for the college to continue its crucial task. The support received from donors has an immense impact on operational capabilities. The grants provided have made it possible not only to train our students across various programs but also to build and upgrade facilities, purchase IT equipment and provide essential vehicles that enabled students to undertake and complete the required training.

Southern Africa is one of the premier hunting destinations of the world and has a large and well-established hunting industry. The SAWC started a course to train students first and foremost as conservationists, professional guides and only then, in the skill of hunting. Conservation in Africa relies on the hunting industry and the SAWC believes that training potential hunters using a holistic and ethical approach to professional hunting is a win-win for both vocations. The first course commenced in 2012, an 18 months, three semester program. Students then move to a 6 month apprenticeship with an established and approved hunting outfitter. The intake is limited given the intense 1-on-1 training nature of the program.

COMMUNITY VERSUS ENFORCEMENT: RESPONSES TO ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE Jacob Phelps and Duan Biggs

As the illegal wildlife trade escalates globally, many government and conservation agencies have upped their enforcement responses: increasing monitoring, surveillance, penalties, raids, and even deploying soldiers. This has led to a renewed critique of enforcement-driven conservation strategies, and an interrogation of what roles local communities can play in tackling illegal wildlife harvest and trade. However, juxtaposing enforcement-led and community-based conservation strategies can also be unhelpful. When dealing with the illegal trade of many high-value species, these may be inseparable conservation strategies. Enforcement-Based Responses

Increased state-led enforcement faces serious limitations. The militarization of rhinoceros and elephant conservation zones across broad parts of Africa, and of rosewood tree (Dalbergia spp.) protection areas in Southeast Asia, has resulted in poacher and ranger deaths and high social and financial costs. Moreover, enforcement-based conservation risks undermining local conservation motivations and rights to wild resources. Perhaps most critically, the conservation outcomes of increased State-led enforcement remain unclear. Exclusionary enforcement strategies can be successful under some circumstances. However, there have also been many examples of enforcement struggling to reduce illegal trade, particularly for high-value wild products, such as agarwood resin (Acquilaria spp.) used for incense, valuable timber species, rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory, shark fins and big cat pelts. Conservationists are revisiting models for how best to deal with illegal wildlife trade. Evaluating Community-Based Models

Conservation practitioners and academics met recently near Johannesburg, South Africa at a symposium – Beyond Enforcement: Communities, governance and sustainable use in combating wildlife crime. The meeting highlighted case studies of how communities across the world are


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dealing with the illegal harvest and trade of wild plants and animals. All were premised on the idea that when communities see meaningful and direct benefits to wildlife conservation, they can be, and often are, motivated to protect wildlife. Financial and non-financial benefits to individuals and communities have been shown to motivate local residents to engage in conservation, and to also exclude and sanction perpetrators of the illegal wildlife trade. Cases discussed at the symposium highlighted the need to identify robust, sustainable incentives for communities that can compete with the lures of illegal trade.

For example, in many Namibian conservancies the rights to use and harvest wildlife have been devolved to local landholders and communities. These models rely heavily on regulated trophy hunting, which finance conservation and rural development, and provide meat to local residents. In other places, NGOs, government agencies or private landholders retain considerable control of wild resources, but share benefits with local communities.

Some Kenyan models involve private tourism operators who lease conservation land directly from local communities, and also ensure local employment. Elsewhere conservation provides indirect benefits: Mountain gorilla tourism in Rwanda, for instance, provides 5 percent of tourism dollars for community-generated development projects. Incentives Enough?

However, incentives may struggle to counter high-value illegal wildlife trade. Evidence from the symposium highlighted that tourism often fails to generate adequate, reliable financial incentives. There are similar limitations to relying on voluntary donor conservation finance. Many workshop participants spoke of the need for significant, diversified incentive streams for local residents. Moreover, evidence overwhelmingly indicates that enforcement remains critical, even where incentives for conservation exist.

Illegal wildlife trade occurs even in extremely successful community-based conservancies. The incentives to trade many high-value taxa may simply be too high to overcome, or may remain attractive to small numbers of local residents. In other cases, trade is driven by outsiders. Local residents are unlikely to tackle the organized, armed illegal traders who are often associated with high-value wildlife. In these cases, State enforcement bodies, with adequate authority and expertise to target perpetrators remain critical to conservation. Enforcement and fair prosecutions are also important in creating clear disincentives for illegal wildlife. Such enforcement is also critical to upholding the rights of communities, including the sustainable use wild resources.

Communities also have a vital role to play in formal enforcement processes. Local residents often provide expert knowledge and “eyes and ears” on the ground to support conservation. Local monitoring and reporting can be more targeted, efficient and sustainable than State-led enforcement. Community-Enforcement Partnerships

The workshop highlighted that enforcement-based and community-based solutions are not singular or isolated answers. Narrow focus on State enforcement has high social and economic costs, and must recognize greater opportunities for local, incentive-based conservation models. However, community models are not panaceas, and remain vulnerable to the challenges of ongoing illegal trade. The dual roles of State enforcement and community engagement were widely recognized.

Activating community-enforcement partnerships requires an understanding of how access rights and conservation incentives influence local actor decision-making. But productive partnerships between local residents and State enforcement bodies requires more than money. A






history of oppression, social injustice, and community exclusion, means that creating positive relationships between communities and formal law enforcement bodies can be challenging.

Direct engagement, perceived responsibility and fairness are also critical to gaining the support of communities to protect high-value wildlife. These types of equity-environment feedbacks are increasingly well documented across diverse contexts. Local residents are vital stakeholders in the battle against illegal wildlife trade and there is a need to better acknowledge how recognizing local rights and motivations can help counter the trade. However, community-based models are unlikely to displace State enforcement in tackling wildlife trafficking. Jacob Phelps is a scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Duan Biggs is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center of Excellence for Environmental Decisions at the University of Queensland. For more information on illegal wildlife trade and conservation enforcement please contact [email protected] or [email protected]. The article was first published by CIFOR, a partner organization in the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management

WHOSE ELEPHANTS ARE THEY? PART 2: LESSONS FROM THE SEBUNGWE WORKSHOP (ZIMBABWE) Marco Pani

This is the second part of an

article which appeared in the October 2014 issue of African Indaba, where I demonstrated that local communities and indigenous people worldwide are a real force for conservation and that poverty reduction through sustainable wildlife utilization should become a top priority objective at the international level, to counter the present law enforcement and demand reduction obsession in the international community. A few summits and months later, what has changed in community-based conservation in Africa?

The only community-based conservation oriented meeting has been the one organized by IUCN SULi, IIED, CEED, Austrian Ministry of Environment and TRAFFIC in South Africa. Titled “Beyond Enforcement“ and already featured in African Indaba. This workshop made important conclusions that influenced the Kasane 2015 summit on wildlife trafficking, and developed an interesting and valuable “Theory of change”.

Yet and worryingly, top-level international officials do not see community-based conservation as a priority. In a recently article on Al Jazeera the CITES Secretary General is quoted:

Sebungwe Elephant Management Action Plan Workshop organized by Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management

Authority (ZPWMA) in collaboration with Tashinga Initiative and funded by Conservation Force and Padenga Holdings


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http://blog.cifor.org/27948/community-versus-enforcement-responses-to-illegal-wildlife-trade#.VUFQvyGqqko

http://www.fao.org/forestry/wildlife-partnership/en/

http://www.fao.org/forestry/wildlife-partnership/en/

http://africanindaba.com/2014/10/whose-elephants-are-they-strengthening-community-based-conservation-and-communities-ownership-rights-for-elephants-in-africa-october-2014-volume-12-5-i/

http://africanindaba.com/2015/04/african-elephant-summit-kasane-botswana-by-dr-ali-kaka-april-2015-volume-13-2/

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/417231/kasane-statement-150325.pdf

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John Scanlon, the secretary-general of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, which has been at the centre of efforts to coordinate the international response, said law enforcement has been emphasized recently because poaching is at a crisis point. Local communities will be instrumental in protecting wildlife in the medium and long term, he said, but only if the animals survive the current bloodbath. “If I’m walking across the street and I get hit by a car, the first thing I want someone to do is stop the bleeding,” he said. “Once I’ve recovered, then I can think about whether I need to get more exercise and eat better. Wildlife’s been hit hard, and we need a trauma-based response.”

So for the CITES SG the local communities will be instrumental only in the medium and long term. I hope that the Parties will think otherwise. It is their Convention. The community priorities are different from the CITES ones and communities control the fate of the wildlife they live beside. Communities need to obtain legal value from wildlife NOW if that wildlife is to continue. Maybe the CITES SG should be invited somewhere in the African bush (not in a luxury lodge) to see poverty and wildlife management challenges with his own eyes. He will eventually and hopefully change the level of priorities for Community-based conservation. The trauma is there. We have been focused on the bleeding for the last 40 years, and I already said in my previous article the tendency to look at the effects rather than the causes of illegal activities should be reversed.

Moving from theory to practice in community-based conservation is the pressing need of today. Since last year Zimbabwe, together with Tanzania, has been subject to a suspension of import of elephant trophies, unilaterally decided by United States’ Fish and Wildlife Service. Among other actions regarding enhancement of elephant conservation through trophy hunting, Conservation Force has co-funded to date three workshops in order to draft and finalize the new Elephant Management Plan of Zimbabwe. The first two, a CAMPIRE workshop and the National Workshop on developing an updated Elephant Management Plan, which were organized with the financial assistance of Dallas Safari Club and Shikar Safari Club, are featured in the AI February 2015 issue.

The third is the focus of this article. Zimbabwe has maintained a large elephant population for the past 15 years. Since 2001, no statistically significant decline has been observed, and according to the 2014 national aerial survey, the population estimate, within the usual 95% confidence limit, is about 82,000 elephants (not counting small populations in the conservancies and other areas in the south of the country, which likely add up to ca. 2,500 animals). In 2001, the estimates were about 88,000 elephants countrywide. However, of four regional populations of elephants in Zimbabwe, significant declines are reported in two regions and significant increases in the other two regions.

In late May 2015, Conservation Force funded, along with Padenga Holdings (the biggest crocodile farm in Zimbabwe), the Sebungwe Elephant Management Action Plan Workshop,

organized by Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority(ZPWMA) in collaboration with the Tashinga Initiative.

The Sebungwe region, south of Lake Kariba, is one of the two regions in Zimbabwe that has witnessed a significant decline of elephants since 2001. According to the unofficial survey results, less than 4,000 elephants were estimated in 2014 (95% CL 2193-4622). In 2001 the estimate was nearly 14,000 elephants (95% CL 11,863-16,113). This represents an approximately 76% decline. After 2001 another survey was done in 2006, which, although showing a slightly higher estimate than 2001 (15,000), showed a quite high carcass ratio. It is likely that the elephant decline started after 2006 but that illegal activities were already high before that date.

The reasons behind the decline are still to be properly analysed and the workshop suggested conducting a proper scientific study on this issue. One of the contributing factors is certainly the growth of the human population in the region that went from 200,000 people in 1980 to more than


http://africanindaba.com/2014/07/african-elephant-us-import-suspension-for-hunting-trophies-from-zimbabwe-and-tanzania-july-2014-volume-12-4/

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https://www.conservationforce.org/pdf/CAMPFIRE%20Workshop%20proceedings%20(final%20version),%20November%202014.pdf

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700,000 in 2012. It has been scientifically demonstrated that when human population densities reach the threshold of 15 people/km2 elephant densities drop dramatically. There are areas now in the Sebungwe with more than 30 people/km2.

The workshop prepared an action plan to be inserted in the National Elephant Management Plan in preparation by ZPWMA. The action plan received valuable advice from all the participants, which included five Traditional Leaders (Chiefs). The Traditional Leaders reported that they are not being completely involved in the monitoring and implementation of wildlife activities and their people are not directly benefiting from their natural resources so due to poverty they turned a blind eye to poaching and helped poaching gangs in return of direct benefits. They also reported that they and their communities are not involved in the granting of tourist concessions and they and their communities are not seen as business partners. The Traditional Leaders’ concerns were heard and valued at the workshop. Steps were being taken in some areas to get the communities more involved, such as the development of a community conservancy. But the workshop and action plan placed even more of a focus on engaging the communities.

Several additional key activities on community-based conservation are part of the action plan, such as the revision of the CAMPFIRE Guidelines to increase the share of revenues beyond 55% to increase revenues at the ward level, and the developing of a legal instrument to provide for traditional leaders to be involved in management and distribution of elephant related benefits. It was recognized that trophy hunting is the activity that provides the major financial income to communities. Several suggestions to improve its governance were made (AI emphasis).

The main lessons from Sebungwe are these: community involvement in wildlife sustainable utilization may be one of the quickest and easiest responses to counter poaching not the slowest, with the big challenge being not working with communities, but changing our own western attitudes, mind-sets and skills.

Traditional leaders are very supportive of wildlife conservation but need to be properly engaged. They want education for their people which includes wildlife. If they want, they can stop poaching quickly, better than any law enforcement agency. But they need to be enabled to do so.

The international community and especially the development agencies need to realize this quickly. Sustainable use of wildlife cannot be done without the people that are sharing their land with wild animals. They should be priority number one, not law enforcement or the destruction of another ivory stockpile somewhere. The top down approach is not working. The biggest challenge remains on how to quickly increase the level of revenues for the communities and to lower the level of ownership rights (Appropriate Authority) down to the ward or village level. Zimbabwe, once the leader in wildlife management has once more the possibility to become it again. There are very positive signals and ZPWMA is very committed.

And finally as Nelson Mandela once said “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom. The steps that are needed from the developed nations are clear: The first is ensuring trade justice. I have said before that trade justice is a truly meaningful way for the developed countries to show commitment to bringing about an end to global poverty.” CITES Parties, are you listening?

Marco Pani is an international consultant in wildlife trade and management with a keen interest in Community-Based Conservation. He has served for 5 years as Director of TRAFFIC Europe Italy’s Office, being instrumental in the drafting of the new CITES legislation of Italy, 3 years as Associate Enforcement Officer in the CITES Secretariat in Geneva and 9 years as staff in the Italian Ministry of Environment. He is a member of the CEESP/SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group






(SULi) and Crocodile Specialist Groups of IUCN, Vice-President of IWMC-World Conservation Trust and Advisor to Conservation Force.

RESULTS OF THE 2014 SELOUS-MIKUMI ELEPHANT CENSUS Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute TAWIRI

As part of the Great African Elephant Census, TAWIRI conducted an aerial elephant census in the Selous-Mikumi ecosystem (includes Mikumi National Park, Selous Game Reserve, Kilombero Game, Controlled Area, WMAs, Selous-Niassa-Corridor and open areas) from 6th to 26th of October 2014 in collaboration with Wildlife Division, Tanzania National Parks Authority, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and Frankfurt Zoological Society. Main objective was to assess population status of African elephant and to determine their distribution and population trends. Using systematic reconnaissance flight technique an area of 105,730 km² was covered. The results indicate that elephant are widely found in Selous Game Reserve while in Mikumi National Park elephants are concentrated in central part of the park. The 2014 census estimated 15,217 ±1800 elephants in the entire ecosystem. The current result reaffirms the decline of elephant population in the Selous-Mikumi Ecosystem as also shown in the 2013 census (13,683 ±1,967). These are the lowest estimates since monitoring started in 1976. High elephant densities were observed in two-sub population in Matambwe area and Likuyu-Sekamaganga area (Southern Selous GR).

A total of 590 elephant carcasses, representing all four-carcass classes, were recorded in the survey giving an estimate of 10,013 (± 711 SE) elephant carcasses for the ecosystem. Results indicate that most of counted carcasses were not new (aged between 30 and 120 months), suggesting that fewer elephants were killed in the last 18 months. A high proportion of carcasses were found in Selous Game Reserves, followed by Liwale, Masasi and Mikumi National Park.

The current result has shown that no difference in population size from that of the 2013 census.

Density of elephant in the Selous-Mikumi ecosystem






The 2014 census therefore affirmed the decline of elephant population in the Selous-Mikumi Ecosystem as shown in the 2013 census.

The 2014 census extended the survey area to Mahenge, [w]est of Selous Game Reserve, which have a potential for conservation of elephants. The government needs to consider a certain level of protection status of this area.

The elephant carcass[es] particularly stage 1-3 are indicating a slowing down of the elephant mortality in the ecosystem.

Selous Game Reserve remains important area for the conservation of African elephant in the Selous-Mikumi Ecosystem.

Elephants were not seen in Kilombero GCA for the second consecutive census. Population of Masasi i.e., GCA and Lukwika-Lumesure Game Reserve needs immediate

attention as only 1 elephant was counted. High numbers of carcass were counted which increases speculation of poaching might have wiped [out] the population or [elephants] migrated to Mozambique [Niassa GR].

The full report “Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, 2015 Aerial Elephant Census in the Selous-Mikumi Ecosystem, Dry Season, 2014. TAWIRI Aerial Survey Report” can be obtained from Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, Conservation Information and Monitoring Unit, P.O. Box 661, Arusha, Tanzania, Tel: + 255 27 2544448, Email: [email protected] or [email protected].

KUNENE CONSERVANCIES STILL STRONG ON VISION Steve Felton, The Namibian 28.05.2015

The Kunene communal conservancies have recently attracted strong criticism for their perceived lack of wildlife management, notably in an article in The Namibian newspaper by writer, tour operator and conservationist Chris Bakkes. A meeting called by the Kunene Regional Conservancy Association at Werêldsend from 11 to 12 May to improve conservancy management practices disputed claims made by Bakkes that conservancy members were driven by greed and had lost their conservation vision, but accepted that management was poor in some conservancies.

“We are asleep,” stated Kuva Rutavi, project manager from the furthest north conservancy of Marienfluss, on the Angolan border. “It hurts, but it is the truth. We need to wake up.” The meeting was chaired by Gustaph Tjiundukamba, from Omatendeka Conservancy. The association represents the 28 communal conservancies in Kunene.

Many conservationists were stung by criticism by Bakkes, who stated that the new governing principle behind conservation was the need to make money, and no longer the wish to protect wildlife. The point was strongly disputed by conservancy representatives in Kunene. “In my culture we have a link to wildlife,” Stein Katupa, secretary of the association told the meeting. “I cannot allow the lion to be finished, because he is my uncle.”

It is a point echoed by John Kasaona in an article published on the NACSO website. Kasaona is executive director of the conservation NGO, IRDNC. “We live with wildlife and from wildlife. What does that mean?” It means that lions take our cattle and elephants steal our crops. We live with that because we love wildlife.” Kasaona maintains that conservation in Kunene has been led by local chiefs and people, and calls for all of the stakeholders in conservation to work together now that the twin challenges of renewed drought and the onslaught of commercial poaching have impacted on wildlife numbers.




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The meeting noted factors that are damaging conservancies and their reputation. Two consecutive years of drought have caused nomadic herders to move their livestock into wildlife areas, and commercial poaching is on the increase. Conservancy representatives and game guards no longer know all the people in conservation zones, and have no right to demand that they leave.

The ministry of environment and tourism representative at the meeting, Eliaser Naftali, stated that good conservancy management is essential. The ministry is responsible for the inspection of conservancies: to make sure that they are complying with regulations that include annual general meetings, game management plans and financial reports. Naftali set out the mechanisms for ensuring compliance, which was met with general agreement and a commitment to ensure that all conservancies in Kunene use the standard operating procedures set out by government.

The strongest call was for a return to the core values of conservation, which include the maintenance of stable wildlife populations. The Kunene conservancies decided to suspend the practice of 'shoot and sell' – hunting game for meat – in 9 conservancies, on the basis of an assessment of the practice, which concluded that shoot and sell hunting often resulted in the loss of calf-bearing females and valuable trophy males.

However, trophy hunting governed by quotas remains an essential conservation tool according to John Kasaona, who says that without trophy hunting there would not be sufficient income to pay game guards' salaries, and conservation would stop in many areas now under conservancy management.

The illegal hunting of rhinos [editor’s note: I suggest that the author replaces “illegal hunting” with “poaching”] was a of great concern to the Kunene association, although it was noted that few rhinos have been poached in conservancy areas in comparison to the incidents of poaching recently discovered in Etosha National Park.

Although a passionate plea was made for the arming of conservancy game guards by some, the meeting proposed that conservancy members should be included in new law enforcement measures, including the employment of locals as rangers in the proposed new directorate of wildlife protection of the ministry of environment and tourism, and training in scene of crime protocol for game guards. Maxi Louis, director of NACSO, the Namibian Association of CBNRM Support Organizations, thanked the Kunene Regional Conservancy Association for initiating the meeting and for the call to return to core conservation values. She stated that with 82 conservancies, Namibia needed more capacity to manage conservation on the ground, and that regional conservancy associations were the best way forward.

For more background information click HERE

KILLING FOR CONSERVATION IN A BIG GAME RESERVE Alev Scott

A confession: I am one of those cowardly meat eaters who prefer not to dwell on how my

steak started life. I also hate the idea of hunting, although I can rationally accept that to shoot a wild animal for meat is, in fact, kinder than the common alternative of battery farm and abattoir. Nevertheless, there is something repugnant about the stereotypical hunting enthusiast; the red-faced American who takes profound pleasure in killing, who displays stuffed heads on his walls and bullishly defends his “right to hunt”.


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For an urban European like me, the hunting debate is purely theoretical until I find myself on a farm in Zimbabwe, where I feel morally obliged to confront the reality of my evening meals. I tag along with Digby Bristow, whose family has farmed near the Limpopo River, on the border with South Africa, for generations. In 1980, Bristow sold off the cattle and allowed the natural ecosystem to reassert itself. He now offers safari tours and a small amount of hunting which is, he says, essential to funding local conservation efforts.

We start in the cool of the early morning. Bristow, a cheerful, tanned, athletic man in his mid-fifties, calibrates his rifle and takes some practice shots before we head out in a battered old Land Rover with a couple of game scouts. Soon we are rattling at speed over the bush, swerving past thorn bushes and thundering across dried-out river beds, a hint of dew on the breeze.

The yellow, cloud-streaked horizon ahead is dotted with kopjes and mighty baobab trees, and the startling greenery of the jungle is visible in a valley below.

We are looking for impala, the beautiful, gazelle-like animals that roam the farm in huge numbers, around 8,000 of them over 32,000 hectares of stony scrubland and forest. Bristow hunts impala for meat, for his own family and his employees, and to sell to help finance the anti-poaching patrols that guard the land 24 hours a day.

We see plenty of other animals as we clatter over the landscape – a herd of zebra, a male ostrich and some loping giraffes – but only a few minutes into the drive, I spot a flash of white-flecked copper hide in the bush about 100m away. Instinctively, I point. Bristow switches off the engine and I am suddenly filled with regret – if this sighting ends in a kill, I will be responsible.

Then the absurd hypocrisy of this dawns on me. I am here with the sole purpose of observing an impala being shot, so what’s the difference who spots the game, who pulls the trigger, who eats the meat, who participates as an observer?

For the next 10 minutes, Bristow moves slowly over the bush, training his gun on the herd ahead. When he trudges back to the car without having fired a shot, he has two words of explanation in his thick South African accent. “All female.” A strict code of conduct emerges over the course of the hunt: Bristow never shoots from the car, or near watering holes. He always makes sure he has a clear shot of the heart for a clean kill, and will only shoot mature bucks to preserve the equilibrium of the herd.

This last rule proves time-consuming as the morning stretches on, the sun beats down and we spot only females and half-grown bucks. Then, eventually, a single adult buck materialises from out of the long grass, condemned by his statuesque horns, which are visible from 200m away.

He is just within range. As Bristow sets off I creep self-consciously behind him like an inept detective, painfully aware of every snapped twig. Suddenly, there is a deafening blast. The scouts run off, and I follow blindly.

When we reach the fallen animal, they set about dragging it back to the car. It’s heavy and as they try to swing it into the back it hits the side, hooves clattering against metal. There is no way it can feel anything, but it is so recently alive that I wince for it. Bristow is irritated – “Come on men! Try again.” There is an unspoken recognition that the dead animal should be treated with respect. The scouts swing again, and this time it lands in the car.

As we drive away, I crane my head around, transfixed by the beauty of the impala’s hide and the awkward angle of its neck as it lies by the feet of the scouts. I force myself to take in this startling contradiction of vitality turned to carrion; it seems outrageous to be this close to such an elusive animal, to be able to touch it. The scouts watch me curiously – “She doesn’t like hunting!” They are right.

This was a meat hunt, at the more easily defensible end of the spectrum from trophy hunting, for which tourists pay huge sums to export their kill. Proponents say that it provides the






money necessary for local conservation while making very little impact on the ecosystem. Every year the National Parks release quotas for each species; the average stands at 4.8%, while some – like elephant – are as low as 0.75%. The money from trophies – around €30,000 per lion, for example – is given directly to the local community in return for tolerating (read: not killing) wild animals that either prey on their livestock or compete with their cattle for grazing.

Opponents of trophy hunting say it has neither moral nor monetary justification, pointing to photographic safaris as more lucrative alternatives. They also argue that these safaris employ more of the local workforce and teach them valuable skills in tourism management, unlike the very specified skills of game scouts and professional hunters.

The problem is that ecotourism is often a contrived enterprise. In order to satisfy box-ticking tourists, parks require disproportionate numbers of animals such as elephants, which have no natural predators and ravage vegetation at the expense of others. As for rhino, which have been poached almost to extinction, Bristow says that although his land is ideal for them, the small army required for their sole protection is far beyond his budget.

Witnessing the effects of poaching is what finally convinces me that hunting might, counter-intuitively, have a legitimate role to play in conservation – at least in Zimbabwe. Animals on public or badly managed private land here are massacred by local villagers, so much so that the land neighbouring Bristow’s is almost barren. It’s not hard to see why – poached impala and other antelope are easy sources of food and money in a country regularly afflicted by droughts, where 80% of the population is unemployed and cattle are worth nearly €500 a head. Tens of thousands of animals are caught in snares by Zimbabwean poachers every year, suffering long, excruciating deaths.

I picked up many snares myself while walking through the bush, acutely conscious that each represented a dead animal. Bristow’s fencing and patrols keep at least some poachers out, and the money from hunting trophies buys partial co-operation from local villagers – as one farmer put it to me: “Only when an animal becomes valuable is it protected.”

When I think of killing an animal for pleasure, I feel sick, as many people do. But the wildlife I have seen here would probably not exist without the income from hunting tourism. It is a paradox I am still getting used to. This article was published first on April 29, 2015 http://www.newsweek.com/2015/05/08/big-game-reservations-326611.html

WHERE'S THE WILDLIFE? Helge Denker, The Namibian, 2015.06.04

I live in prime wildlife habitat on a private farm in the Khomas Hochland. Every morning before sunrise, I walk a few kilometers through the hills, always along the same route, to check our water infrastructure. On some mornings, I see dozens of gemsbok, a handful of kudu, and a few warthogs; on other days, the tracks of leopard, brown hyena, or aardvark.

There are weeks during which the landscape is dominated by cattle, often with a sprinkling of wildlife amongst them. As is the case for much of Namibia's farmland, wildlife and livestock share the land - and the land is more valuable and productive for it. Steenbok and duiker are a common sight where I walk, as are jackals and baboons. On some lucky mornings, I spot a honey badger, or an aardwolf.


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Yet there are many days when I see nothing. No exciting new tracks, no game. The wildlife is free to move; cattle fences pose no barrier. I know it is there, somewhere in the greater landscape. It's just not always there for me to see. That's part of the excitement.

Wildlife is never distributed evenly across a landscape. Game distribution depends on a great many factors, both at a local and large landscape level. In Namibia, rainfall and resultant grazing and browse, as well as the availability of surface water, are foremost amongst the drivers of game congregation and dispersal. In times of plenty, wildlife may be seen in great herds; when it's dry and barren, the wildlife disperses in small groups in all directions. Natural predation, human disturbance and competition with livestock all play an important role in wildlife distribution and abundance. So do topography, soil composition and vegetation types. Species preferences for particular habitats and foods, even individual animal behavior all influence wildlife movements.

In large open systems without fences, and particularly in the open, arid areas of north-western Namibia, wildlife fluctuations can be perplexing. During times of abundance, we stand in awe. When conditions change and wildlife seems to vanish, we jump to conclusions. Our human nature tends to focus on the best we've seen and use that as the yardstick. When we see a lot of wildlife during our travels, we think it should always be that way. If we are used to the high densities of wildlife found in Etosha, our expectations of wildlife viewing may become skewed. And when we don't find what we expect, we ring the alarm bells. Where has the wildlife gone?

Yet is that always justified? Two weeks ago, I experienced perhaps the most spectacular wildlife sightings ever on a

journey through the north-west. I've been travelling regularly through the Erongo and Kunene regions as part of my work (and leisure) for a quarter of a century. I've been lucky to see huge herds of springbok and gemsbok; I've experienced giraffe, elephant and rhino at close quarters, come face to face with predators. I have passed through vast landscapes devoid of game, when conditions were more favourable elsewhere. And I have never been as awestruck by such a diversity and abundance of game in one small area as I saw on my last trip. Perhaps I'm overrating the experience, because it came unexpected within the current doom and gloom about declining wildlife numbers, drought, over-harvesting and poaching in the north-west.

During our drive into the area along the main roads, we saw very little game. Yet when I walked out into the hills from our first camp before sunrise, in an area that has had only a sprinkling of late rain, I immediately came upon larger aggregations of springbok, Hartmann's mountain zebra and gemsbok. A lone jackal slinked away at my approach. The spotted hyena that had called during the night remained hidden.

A couple of days later, driving along small side tracks into another area, we suddenly came into valleys of plenty. Late rains had flushed the red lands green. The sudden abundance of wildlife was astonishing: springbok in their thousands, Hartmann's mountain zebra in their hundreds (with countless small foals amongst them), groups of gemsbok in all directions; giraffe moving in their stately ways amongst them all; a small group of kudu by the track. And on that one afternoon, just passing through, we saw half a dozen rhino! All the rhinos were dehorned, a strange yet reassuring sight in this time of rhino crisis. From our tents that night, we heard the wonderful, rasping call of a leopard somewhere nearby, a sound like a heavy saw through wood.

I sat in late afternoon light on another day, watching a single herd of hundreds of springbok suddenly break into a joyful display of pronking. Again, there was wildlife dotted across the land in all directions. And while I didn't know where to look, three rhinos ambled out into the afternoon sun. Soon an ultralight aircraft circled over the valley on an anti-poaching patrol, dispelling my thoughts of the rhinos being an easy target. That night, in my tent pitched on a small mountain pass, I heard the distant but distinct roar of a lion.






What privilege to experience all of this; here, in community conservation areas far from national parks. Here, where local communities manage a balance between traditional stock herding and newer income streams from wildlife use through tourism and hunting. Uses that can be carried out sustainably through the management systems of communal conservancies and the control mechanisms of the ministry of environment and tourism.

On the last morning, on my way south, I came across a family group of twelve elephants by the main road. Large cows, small calves and juveniles ambled along the road, feeding on mopane.

The wildlife of the north-west is there. In many areas it is under strain from three years of severe drought. In some places it is under pressure from human influences, including the activities of both local communities and visitors. But the north-west is not a national park, and it never will be. It is communal farmland, where local people have the right to choose their preferred mix of livelihood activities. And it is this dynamic mix of people, places and wildlife that makes the community conservation areas of Namibia so special.

LION HUNT QUOTAS COULD BE GOOD FOR ANIMALS BUT BAD FOR HUMANS Rosaleen Duffy, Professor of Political Ecology of Development at SOAS, University of London

Criticism of sport hunting nearly always focuses on whether hunting is cruel or not. A good example was provided by the recent controversy surrounding Melissa Bachmann, a keen hunter and television personality who posted a photo of herself with a lion trophy on Facebook. She has been heavily criticized, even threatened for her actions. But there are more interesting and important questions – what does sport hunting lead to? And could limited hunting actually help populations increase? The study Data-poor management of African lion hunting using a relative index of abundance published from researchers at Imperial College London, Stirling and Cape Town Universities uses population models to map the effects of a hunting quota on lion numbers. In its model, the paper found a lion population would rise from 30 to 100 individuals in 30 years. This in turn would allow the quota of lions allowed for hunting to go up from 15 to 22. With hunters prepared to pay US$125,000 to take home a lion trophy, this means the land could be profitable as wild habitat, and hence conserved, rather than turned over to farming.

The idea of setting quotas for sport hunting to increase numbers of lions is anchored to a particular, economic valuation of nature that has become popular. This approach holds that the application of market principles can solve everything from loss of charismatic species such as pandas, rhinos or elephants, to mitigating the effects of climate change. Examples include payments for ecosystem services (PES), or the “natural capital” model, carbon trading, adopt-an-animal schemes, green certification labels, ecotourism and sport hunting. The potential of a green economy

These are central pillars of the “green economy”, backed by a UNEP report that was discussed center stage at Rio+20 in 2012. The green economy assumes jobs, income and benefits will be developed by encouraging environmentally sustainable behavior. Sport hunting of lions fits right in to this. But for many, placing our trust in the green economy is a worry – it could lead to concentrations of money and power, it might deepen existing inequalities, and there is no guarantee that it will lead to a greener economy in the future.

NGOs such as Born Free Foundation, Humane Society International and International Fund for Animal Welfare have all argued against sport hunting, citing its cruelty and pointing to scandals


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such as canned hunting. Other conservation NGOs, such as WWF take a less critical view, and do not oppose sport hunting per se, reflecting the long historical relationships between hunting and conservation. This is an important and worthwhile debate, it is one that needs to be had, but it misses a critical point: if we rely on economic incentives to conserve rhino, for example, what happens when those incentives are reduced? Hunting to save them

South Africa has permitted sport hunting of white rhino since 1968, and it provides some lessons that we need to take seriously. IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group data indicate that that since hunting began the numbers of Southern white rhino have increased from 1,800 to over 20,000. There is no doubt that sport hunting and expansion of rhino numbers occurred simultaneously. But these days most rhino are in private hands because owners have an economic incentive to increase rhino range and numbers: the more rhino they have, the more they can sell to sport hunters. This apparent success story is more complex than it first appears.

The trade in rhino parts (notably rhino horn) is banned under the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), so rhinos can only be “sold” as sport hunting trophies or as a star attraction in safari tourism. As demand for rhino horn grows, the only way of obtaining it is via increasing levels of illegal hunting. As a result, the cost of protecting rhinos has risen, while the revenue from hunting rhinos has stagnated or even fallen. A key threat that rhinos face today is disinvestment by private owners who cannot afford to keep them. This has led to vocal calls to legalize a rhino horn trade to boost incentives for private owners – at the moment in “rational” or market terms, it does not make sense for private owners to continue to pay the considerable costs of their upkeep. Trophy cash, but for who?

A second critical, but often invisible, concern is that the revenues from sport hunting merely concentrate power and wealth in existing hands. It is common to hear the argument that hunting provides an important source of income and employment for rural communities in poorer parts of the world. It is the case that sport hunting brings jobs for some, and income for some. But the economic benefits are not spread widely, and the profits overwhelmingly go to those able to set up “luxury safari experiences” on private land in the first place – the rich.

Poorer rural communities are relegated to more menial and lower paid tasks – they are the cleaners, cooks, waiters, guides and rangers, and not (with some exceptions) the owners. The narrow focus on jobs and income, the rush to launch new tourism and sport hunting ventures means that often we do not consider other approaches to developing the local economy.

If the objective is solely to increase lion numbers, then yes, sustainable hunting quotas are likely to work, just as they worked for white rhinos. But, with serious concern over social inequality, we should ask whether increasing animal numbers is the only measure we wish to apply. This article first appeared in “The Conversation – Academic Rigor, Journalistic Flair”

XIV World Forestry Congress, Durban 7-11 September 2015

The Wildlife Forum organized by the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management on 9 September will address challenges and opportunities in sustainable wildlife management, showcasing the experiences of countries, organizations, indigenous peoples, local communities and the private sector in addressing poverty alleviation and livelihood security issues while safeguarding the world’s rich and diverse wildlife. Details at: http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/world-forestry-congress/programme/special-events/wildlife/en/


http://theconversation.com/lion-hunt-quotas-could-be-good-for-animals-but-bad-for-humans-21551

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http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/world-forestry-congress/programme/special-events/wildlife/en/





ABSTRACTS OF RECENTLY PUBLISHED WILDLIFE PAPERS Compiled by Gerhard R Damm

INTENSIVE AND SELECTIVE BREEDING TO ENHANCE OR ALTER GENETIC CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIGENOUS GAME SPECIES FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association SAHGCA Selective Breeding Policy The largest South African hunting association affirms its responsibility of protecting the long-term interests of its members in terms of their ability to participate in fair-chase hunting of representative indigenous species, specifically concerning the conservation of the genetic diversity and integrity of huntable species and the preservation of extensive wildlife systems, essential to fair-chase hunting. SAHGC is concerned that exploitation and deliberate selective breeding for specific traits in indigenous wild animals, if uncontrolled, may have detrimental effects and unwanted consequences on our biodiversity heritage and the biodiversity economy. The organization opposes artificial and unnatural manipulation of wildlife to enhance or alter species’ genetic and phenotypic characteristics (e.g. coat color, body size or horn size) in particular through intentional cross-breeding of species, subspecies or evolutionary significant local phenotypes and or the use of domestic livestock breeding methods such as, but not limited to, line breeding, germplasm and semen production or trading, artificial insemination, embryo transfer, castration, growth hormone treatments, controlled or unnatural breeding programs and cloning; and the intentional breeding of indigenous wild animals in intensive- or highly altered semi-intensive production systems for purely commercial purposes. With the above link interested readers, who have followed the debate on this subject in African Indaba, can download a number of highly significant documents, including E. J. Nel’s paper RISKS AND IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH INTENSIVE AND SELECTIVE BREEDING OF INDIGENOUS GAME FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES. GAME RANCHING: A SUSTAINABLE LAND USE OPTION AND ECONOMIC INCENTIVE FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN ZAMBIA Chansa Chomba, Chimbola Obias, Vincent Nyirenda Open Journal of Ecology, 4, 571-581. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oje.2014.49047

The ten provinces of Zambia were surveyed to determine number and size of game ranches situated in these areas up to the end of 2012/early 2013. Three classes of game ranches were developed as; 1) ≥500 hectares as game ranch proper, 2) ≥50 - <500 hectares as game farm, and 3) <50 hectares as ornamental. A total of 200 game ranches keeping large mammals from the size of common duiker to eland were recorded with a growth rate of 6 per year for the period 1980-2012. The largest number was ornamental 98 (49%); large game ranches were 75 (38%) and the least was game farms 27 (14%). Thirty seven species of large mammals were recorded, of which, 15 were the most abundant with impala topping the list with 21,000 individuals (34%). It was found that of the ten provinces, Luapula, Western and Northern Provinces despite being largely rural with low population densities except for Luapula did not have any game ranch. The province with the largest number was Lusaka 71(36%), Southern 59 (30%), Central 31(16%), Copperbelt 19 (10%), Eastern and Northwestern 9 (4.5% each) and Muchinga was the least with 2 (1%). The rapid increase in the number of ornamental category is mainly attributed to the rise in the development of tourist accommodation facilities and high cost residential properties. This growth provides an opportunity to convert to


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game ranching schemes abandoned farmlands which are not currently useful to agriculture due to loss of fertility and other forms of land degradation. Similarly, parcels of land with natural ecological limitations should also be considered for such schemes. Rehabilitation of degraded land through ranching could also enhance carbon sequestration, a factor critical in minimizing carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases. PROVISIONING OF GAME MEAT TO RURAL COMMUNITIES AS A BENEFIT OF SPORT HUNTING IN ZAMBIA Paula A. White, Jerrold L. Belant (Download the complete paper at Plos One)

Sport hunting has reportedly multiple benefits to economies and local communities; however, few of these benefits have been quantified. As part of their lease agreements with the Zambia Wildlife Authority, sport hunting operators in Zambia are required to provide annually to local communities free of charge i.e., provision a percentage of the meat obtained through sport hunting. We characterized provisioning of game meat to rural communities by the sport hunting industry in Zambia for three game management areas (GMAs) during 2004–2011. Rural communities located within GMAs where sport hunting occurred received on average > 6,000 kg per GMA of fresh game meat annually from hunting operators. To assess hunting industry compliance, we also compared the amount of meat expected as per the lease agreements versus observed amounts of meat provisioned from three GMAs during 2007–2009. In seven of eight annual comparisons of these GMAs, provisioning of meat exceeded what was required in the lease agreements. Provisioning occurred throughout the hunting season and peaked during the end of the dry season (September–October) coincident with when rural Zambians are most likely to encounter food shortages. We extrapolated our results across all GMAs and estimated 129,771 kg of fresh game meat provisioned annually by the sport hunting industry to rural communities in Zambia at an approximate value for the meat alone of >US$600,000 exclusive of distribution costs. During the hunting moratorium (2013–2014), this supply of meat has halted, likely adversely affecting rural communities previously reliant on this food source. Proposed alternatives to sport hunting should consider protein provisioning in addition to other benefits (e.g., employment, community pledges, anti-poaching funds) that rural Zambian communities receive from the sport hunting industry. THE PLACE OF HUNTERS IN GLOBAL CONSERVATION ADVOCACY Nels Paulson, University of Wisconsin-Stout (Download the complete paper at Conservation and Society) Hunters consider themselves conservationists, but they also think of themselves as hunters first. Some environmentalists perceive this as a paradox. This hunting-conservation paradox is typically reconciled in very similar ways across the hunting world, and for many they do so through associational life. Specifically, the sustainable hunting model of governance is promoted by hunters; proponents argue that revenue from hunting increases the funding, and therefore efficacy, of conservation efforts at various scales. While conservation worldwide has benefitted tremendously by this governance, there have been variations in the levels of success of different expected social and economic outcomes. Such variation could be explored through greater incorporation of sustainable hunting in global conservation dialogue, while simultaneously broadening conservation advocacy worldwide. However, this does not typically occur due to low levels of trust, stemming


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from divides in values and styles of reasoning among various environmentalists and hunting advocates. This paper provides insight into such limitations and, hopefully, informs and encourages further dialogue to improve sustainable hunting governance worldwide and expand the breadth of global conservation advocacy TROPHY HUNTERS’ WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND COMMUNITY BENEFITS Anke Fischer (corr. author: [email protected]), Yitbarek Tibebe Weldesemaet, Mikołaj Czajkowski, Degu Tadie and Nick Hanley. Conserv. Biol. 2015 Mar 3. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12467

In the face of fundamental land-use changes, the potential for trophy hunting to contribute to conservation is increasingly recognized. Trophy hunting can, for example, provide economic incentives to protect wildlife populations and their habitat, but empirical studies on these relationships are few and tend to focus on the effects of benefit-sharing schemes from an ex post perspective. We investigated the conditions under which trophy hunting could facilitate wildlife conservation in Ethiopia ex ante. We used a choice experiment approach to survey international trophy hunters’ (n = 224) preferences for trips to Ethiopia, here operationalized as trade-offs between different attributes of a hunting package, as expressed through choices with an associated willingness to pay. Participants expressed strong preferences and, consequently, were willing to pay substantial premiums for hunting trips to areas with abundant non-target wildlife where domestic livestock was absent and for arrangements that offered benefit sharing with local communities. For example, within the range of percentages considered in the survey, respondents were on average willing to pay an additional $3900 for every 10 percentage points of the revenue being given to local communities. By contrast, respondents were less supportive of hunting revenue being retained by governmental bodies: Willingness to pay decreased by $1900 for every 10 percentage points of the revenue given to government. Hunters’ preferences for such attributes of hunting trips differed depending on the degree to which they declared an interest in Ethiopian culture, nature conservation, or believed Ethiopia to be politically unstable. Overall, respondents thus expressly valued the outcomes of nature conservation activities—the presence of wildlife in hunting areas—and they were willing to pay for them. Our findings highlight the usefulness of insights from choice modeling for the design of wildlife management and conservation policies and suggest that trophy hunting in Ethiopia could generate substantially more financial support for conservation and be more in line with conservation objectives than is currently the case. UNEXPECTED AND UNDESIRED CONSERVATION OUTCOMES OF WILDLIFE TRADE BANS — AN EMERGING PROBLEM FOR STAKEHOLDERS? Diana S. Webera, Tait Mandlerb, Markus Dyckc, Peter J. Van Coeverden De Groot, David S. Lee, Douglas A. Clark Elsevier open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ CITES regulates international trade with the goal of preventing over-exploitation, thus the survival of species are not jeopardized from trade practices; however it has been used recently in nontrade conservation measures. As an example, the US proposed to uplist polar bears under CITES Appendix I, despite that the species did not conform to the biological criteria. Polar bears were listed as ‘threatened’ under US ESA in 2008, in response to loss of sea-ice and warming temperatures. In



http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/





Nunavut, where most of Canada’s polar bears are harvested, the resulting trade ban did not decrease total harvest after the ESA listing but reduced US hunter participation and the proportion of quotas taken by sport hunters from specific populations. Consequently, the import ban impacted livelihoods of Arctic indigenous communities with negative conservation — reduced tolerance for dangerous fauna and affected local participation in shared management initiatives. The polar bear may be the exemplar of an emerging problem: the use of trade bans in place of action for non-trade threats, e.g., climate change. Conservation prospects for this species and other climate-sensitive wildlife will likely diminish if the increasing use of trade bans to combat non-trade issues cause stakeholders to lose faith in participatory management. THE ASSESSMENT OF ELEPHANT POACHING IN THE POPULATION OF THE SELOUS GAME RESERVE Moses Titus Kyando Master’s thesis in Natural Resources Management Program, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology. Elephant poaching is a significant problem in Tanzania and many parts of Africa. This study assess the patterns of elephant poaching for the international ivory trade on the population of the Eastern Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania. Data for assessing the patterns of elephants poaching from 2009 to 2013 were acquired by doing inventory on the demography of poached skulls in the field and assessing confiscated tusks. This is to infer the age and sex of killed elephants; also the season of death were obtained during the field assessment. By combining inferences of age and sex, poaching patterns of African elephants were assessed. Data on the distribution of poached elephants and the effect of poaching on the trophy-quality from tourist hunting were obtained from elephant mortality database of the Selous Game Reserve in the Eastern and North-eastern sectors. The GPS coordinates to determine the distribution of poached elephants were randomly collected by rangers during their daily patrol routine. The poaching patterns in the ESGR were non-selective. The incidences of poaching were higher during the wet season. Hotspots of poaching were identified on the edges of the ESGR. This was attributed by the involvement of local people adjacent the ESGR in poaching activities due to lack of economic opportunities. The patterns of elephant poaching can help to study the impact of poaching on Selous Game Reserve elephant populations. Also, hotspots poaching serve as tool to guide and inform reserve managers involved in wildlife conservation in Tanzania. Improved economic opportunities of local people; enhanced conservation education and research; and improved governance and law enforcement recommended addressing the problem of elephant poaching.

NEWS FROM AND ABOUT AFRICA Compiled by Gerhard R Damm Australia

On 5 April 2015 Customs officers in Perth seized 110 kg of elephant tusks. The shipment was from Africa and in transit to Malaysia. Botswana

Botswana imposed an almost complete ban on hunting wildlife — by bushmen as well as overseas visitors — in January 2014. Once the source of much-needed income [through trophy






hunting], elephants have [now] become a major nuisance to villagers living on the edge of Chobe National Park. Botswana’s environment minister Tshekedi Khama said “Hunters only employ people during the hunting season. (Tourism) is throughout the year, that’s why we prefer it.” But some wildlife experts and safari operators fear the ban could be detrimental. “Hunting of elephants can be used as a way of sustainably generating revenue for elephant conservation,” said Julian Blanc (CITES). For Amos Mabuku, chairman of the Chobe enclave conservation trust, the government has forgotten the everyday reality that there are too many elephants near villages “The attitude of local people has changed, it’s becoming negative,” he said. “We used to tell the community ‘conserve elephants’, so that you get profit. But now why conserve?” he said. (Source MG Africa). Chad

Zakouma National Park with 305,000 ha is heralded as a model for elephant conservation in one of the most difficult regions in Africa. Its success can be attributed to management strength, a multi-tiered anti-poaching system and effective community engagement. Faced with military-trained poachers from Sudan, Zakouma NP deploys guards on horseback and motorcycle and has a Rapid Response Unit. 11 regional airstrips support aerial surveillance, a central control room coordinates anti-poaching operations and field intelligence, and satellite collars were fitted onto elephants so their movements could be monitored around the clock. The wooded savannah interspersed with gallery forest and seasonally-inundated floodplains, harbors abundant wildlife, including 8,000 buffalo, numerous Roan antelope, Kordofan giraffe, Lelwel’s hartebeest, tiang, kob and red-fronted gazelle, plus all the major predators and the only greater kudu population in the Sudanian zone. Chad is currently drawing up a national elephant protection plan and is aiming to promulgate new national parks. More details at www.african-parks.org. China

The State Forestry Administration announced the phasing out of the country’s domestic ivory trade in Bejing in May when nearly 1,500 pounds of confiscated elephant tusks and carvings were crushed. “Under the legal framework of CITES and domestic laws, we will strictly control ivory processing and trade until [its] commercial processing and sale are eventually halted,” said Zhao Shucong, SFA minister without giving a time frame. (Source: Sinosphere) Central African Republic

The Chinko Project covers 1,760,000 ha. This transition zone between woodland, savannah and tropical rainforest systems contains a phenomenal biodiversity, which includes primates, ungulates, carnivores, and forest and savannah elephant. Erik Mararv, a professional hunter born and raised in CAR co-founded Chinko Project to protect the remaining wildlife. He operated on a shoestring budget along with 5 co-founders. In late 2014 the project merged with African Parks. An immediate priority is preventing poaching from Sudanese cattle herders. A designated corridor has been created to allow cattle to traverse the area. Counteracting organized groups of elephant poachers from Sudan is more challenging and training a more effective anti-poaching unit is high priority. In 2015 an Eastern Giant eland breeding program will be implemented, with 20 animals to be captured and bred for later reintroduction into the wild. More information at www.chinkoproject.com and www.african-parks.org. Congo, Democratic Republic of

The 780,000 ha Virunga National Park has lost more game rangers on duty than any other park on earth – 150 rangers have been killed since 2004. Last year a park ranger was killed and two


http://mgafrica.com/article/2015-05-04-marauding-jumbos-trigger-hunting-debate-in-botswana-home-to-a-third-of-africas-elephants.

http://www.african-parks.org/

http://www.chinkoproject.com/

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injured in an ambush by militia, whilst park director Emmanuel de Merode was shot and seriously wounded outside the park.

Home to 25% of the world’s critically endangered mountain gorillas the park also protects eastern lowland Grauer’s gorillas and chimpanzees, as well as the Okapi. There is no doubt that Virunga’s wildlife would have ceased to exist were it not for the fortitude of the committed and courageous rangers. More information at www.virunga.org. Kenya

Kenyan airport authorities arrested a Vietnamese man in May carrying $82 000 worth of rhino horn between Mozambique and Hanoi, when he was on a stopover in Nairobi (Source Mail & Guardian Africa). Mozambique

Mozambique’s elephant population dropped from just over 20,000 to about 10,300 between 2009 and 2014, reflecting rampant poaching by organized crime. The 2014 figure was recorded during surveillance flights between September and November. Mozambican ministry and police set up a new force to patrol conservation areas (Source AP). Mozambique

On May 12, Mozambican police seized 340 elephant tusks and 65 rhino horns from a house in Matola in Mozambique’s largest-ever confiscation of rhino horn and elephant ivory. Two Chinese citizens were arrested. The confiscated haul was held in custody at the Maputo police headquarters in a storeroom reportedly secured with just three padlocks. On May 25 thieves raided the storeroom, making off with 12 horns. Four state officials guarding the store were arrested on suspicion of aiding the theft. A further two suspects were arrested for producing horn replicas to switch with the stolen horns.

Colman O’Criodain, WWF wildlife trade analyst, said Mozambique was under scrutiny by the CITES Standing Committee for its failure to combat rhino and elephant poaching and this breach could lead to sanctions. John Scanlon, CITES secretary general, said: “We are extremely concerned by news of [this] theft [from] a police facility after a very successful seizure” (Source Mail & Guardian Africa).

Mozambique

An aerial survey in November 2014 covering over 50% of the 407,000 hectare Gorongosa National Park revealed a huge rebound in the populations of most large animals, with 71,086 herbivores counted across 19 species. Overall Gorongosa protects remarkable biodiversity, with 398 bird species, 122 mammals, 34 reptiles and 43 amphibians identified. For more details visit the Gorongosa Restoration Project at www.gorongosa.org. South Africa

A quote from a blog of a reformed anti-hunter “It's difficult to say and accept, but trophy hunting is key to conserving wildlife … Before this trip [to South Africa], I would have never considered trophy hunting as a viable solution to conservation. But I think it is. You only have to look as far as Kenya to see the appeal. The Kenyan government has outlawed hunting of any type, and has since lost over 70 percent of its wildlife. In South Africa, when trophy hunting was introduced, the wildlife population doubled.” For the full article please read Amy Roberts: Killing to conserve


http://www.virunga.org/

http://mg.co.za/article/2015-05-28-thieves-raid-huge-rhino-horn-haul


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/elephant-numbers-plunge-in-mozambique-because-of-poachers/2015/05/28/6bda5b54-0519-11e5-93f4-f24d4af7f97d_story.html



http://www.gorongosa.org/

http://www.parkrecord.com/opinion/ci_28148469/amy-roberts-killing-conserve





South Africa/Texas Charly Seale head of the Texas-based Exotic Wildlife Association's Second Ark Foundation is

part of a project likely be the largest attempt outside Africa to move rhinos out of harm's way. "This is not for the faint of heart or for the faint of checkbook," said Seale, pointing out no public money will be sought. The Second Ark Foundation has some experience since it worked to preserve the addax and the scimitar-horned oryx. Most of the rhinos would be under three years old, typically darted in South Africa, transported by truck and shipped as air cargo. The rhinos would be housed on 100,000 acres-plus (40,000 ha-plus) ranches in south or southwest Texas. Rhinos DNA sequences would be stored in a database and microchips placed in the rhinos’ horns. If things go well in Texas, and South Africa can put a lid on poaching, the Lone Star-raised rhinos could eventually be returned to Africa. Alan Warren, who is part of the Texas group, said "It's not about hunting, it is about preserving and saving the species from certain annihilation in South Africa" (Source Reuters). South Africa

Isilo (isiZulu for King) the largest elephant in the Tembe Transfrontier Park on the South Africa/Mozambique Border apparently died a natural death in the south-west section of the park last year. The tusks disappeared over the border into Mozambique. To date they have not been traced. Watch the Youtube movie with the magnificent Isilo HERE. Tanzania

Tanzania’s elephant population has fallen to 43,330, a drop of several thousand from the previous survey. In 1976 Tanzania boasted seven times as many elephants but successive waves of poaching since have endangered whole populations. Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Lazaro Nyalandu claimed the figures were a “mixed bag” with increases in some areas overshadowed by a dramatic fall in Ruaha–Rungwa from 20,000 in 2013 (34,000 in 2009) to 8,272 last year. WWF’s Carlos Drews said the disappearance of so many elephants from Ruaha–Rungwa could only be explained by the involvement of the international crime gangs (various media sources). Uganda

Elephant numbers increased to more than 5,000 from fewer than 1,000 decades ago because of improved measures to protect elephants, the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a statement. The Uganda Wildlife Authority, a state agency that was established in 1996, was key to the success. (Source AP)

United States

On January 14 a Miami District Court heard an auction house owner pleading guilty to illegal trafficking and smuggling rhino horn and objects made from rhino. The defendant will pay a fine of 1.5 million US dollars and also faces imprisonment. Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) joined Friends of Animals (collectively, “Wildlife Advocates”) in the FoA suit regarding the importation of the trophies from two black rhino legally harvested in Namibia earlier this year. In the court papers ZCTF chairman Johnny Rodrigues asserts that he is against all trophy hunting in Africa. Interestingly the paper submitted by the Wildlife Advocates – including the Zimbabwean Mr. Rodrigues – states: “The continued status of the rhino as one of the so-called African big five sport trophies (rhinos, lions, elephants, tigers, and water


https://uk.news.yahoo.com/africa-texans-offer-sanctuary-endangered-rhinos-112311560.html#1Q6DQRP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7inirkYJ_i4&feature=share

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/elephant-numbers-plunge-in-mozambique-because-of-poachers/2015/05/28/6bda5b54-0519-11e5-93f4-f24d4af7f97d_story.html





buffalos) continues to undermine conservation efforts by effectively commodifying [sic] the species and decreasing the stigma attached to the killing of rhinos. (Source Conservation Force Case 1:15-cv-00653-ABJ Document 5 Filed 05/21/15 on Page 14 of 26). Zimbabwe

Gonarezhou NP with 505,000 ha harbors 89 mammal including some 10,000 elephants and buffalo numbers are up from 2,274 in 2009 to over 4,000( 2013 aerial survey). Lion numbers have doubled to over 60, whilst wild dog numbers have increased from 40 in 2009 to more than 100 today. The park is part of the 3.5 million ha Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park straddling the borders of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) manages Gonarezhou in partnership with Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. There are now plans to reintroduce black rhino and Lichtenstein’s hartebeest.

BLACK RHINO HUNTER 100% CERTAIN HE’S HELPING SURVIVAL OF THE SPECIES Washington Post May 23, 2015 (edited for space – see full article at the link above)

A Namibian black rhinoceros is dead after a hunt by Texas hunter Corey Knowlton whose $350,000 bid to kill the endangered animal set off an international controversy. In the final moments [last month] in an undisclosed location in northern Namibia, the fearsome rhino bull came rushing toward the hunter, local trackers and a CNN camera crew that was invited to document the hunt. Knowlton took aim and fired two shots with a high-powered rifle from less than 30 feet away; a third shot was fired and the animal was dead.

It was the end of a saga that began when Knowlton purchased the permit to hunt the animal at a January 2014 [Dallas Safari Club] auction. The bull, Knowlton [and rhino experts in Namibia] said, was a problem in his own herd. The animal was too old to breed but so aggressive that it had already killed calves, cows and other male rhinoceroses.

Proponents call [this] “conservation hunting,” the practice of offering hunting opportunities for a fee that can then be used on the conservation effort. It is a divisive idea, but one that some conservationists have come to support, as The Washington Post reported earlier this year:

In a statement, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature said the concern over killing a rhinoceros for sport is understandable but confuses illegal poaching with well-managed hunting tourism. “Well-managed trophy hunting has little to do with poaching, and indeed can be a key tool to help combat it,” [IUCN] said. Without it, African conservationists “would not be able to employ the upwards of 3,000 field rangers employed to protect wildlife and enforce regulations.”

Knowlton shot the bull “after a three-day hunt through the bush with government officials on hand to ensure he killed the correct animal,” AFP reported. Asked afterward if he still believed his actions benefited the species, Knowlton responded: “100 percent.” “I’m pretty emotional right now, to be honest,” he told CNN. “I felt like from day one it was benefitting the black rhino, and I’ll feel like that until the day that I die.” He added: “Being on this hunt, with the amount of criticism it brought and the amount of praise it brought from both sides, I don’t think it could have brought more awareness to the black rhino.”

Knowlton paid a massive sum of money for the permit from the Namibia Ministry of Environment and Tourism, then found himself on the receiving end of death threats. Tens of


http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/hunter-still-100-certain-hes-helping-survival-of-the-species-after-successful-killing-of-endangered-black-rhino





thousands of people petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent him from importing the rhinoceros carcass after the hunt. “It has been a nightmare,” he told The Washington Post late last year. Ultimately, the Fish and Wildlife Service gave Knowlton the green light — and the hunt was on.

In its statement announcing the decision, the federal agency noted that hunting specific older bulls that were known to keep cows in the herd from mating with other bulls was necessary to increase the rhino population.

Knowlton let CNN cameras in on the hunt for further vindication. “At this point, the whole world knows about this hunt and I think it’s extremely important that people know it’s going down the right way, in the most scientific way that it can possibly happen,” he told the network. He added: “I think people have a problem just with the fact that I like to hunt. . . . I want to see the black rhino as abundant as it can be. I believe in the survival of the species.” Still, Knowlton remains the enemy of opponents of conservation hunting.

As for the rhino Knowlton bagged: Meat from the 3,000 pound animal was taken to a nearby village for food. And Knowlton will import the horns, the hide and body to the U.S. as his hunter’s trophy, according to CNN. “It’s hard to say why hunters value the remains so much — respect, a memorial, the time you had with it, I believe it’s all of that,” Knowlton told The Washington Post months before the hunt. “A hunter’s relationship with wildlife is intimate.” The original CNN report can be read and seen HERE

AFRICAN INDABA INTERVIEWS COREY KNOWLTON The interview was conducted by African Indaba publisher & editor and CIC Applied Science Division president Gerhard R. Damm. Introduction Under the heading “CIC PRAISES AUCTIONED BLACK RHINO HUNT AS A GREAT SUPPORT TO RHINO CONSERVATION IN NAMIBIA” the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation CIC published a press release on June 1, 2015. The press release culminated in CIC President Bernard Lozé stating that “the funds raised at the auction and Corey Knowlton’s hunt are a great push for the conservation of black rhino in Namibia, which are under increasing pressure from poachers. They are also recognition for the local communities who are looking after the rhinos as much as they can”. The CIC applauds Dallas Safari Club and the Namibian Government for jointly creating this opportunity to show support of conservation in Namibia as well as contribute to the science-based population management. Dallas Safari Club deservedly was very recently confirmed as one of the newest members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). CIC as a long-standing IUCN member, with several CIC members working in various IUCN Specialist Groups, congratulates DSC for this achievement. African Indaba: Corey, last month you finally hunted and harvested the black rhino bull in Namibia. It must have been an emotional roller coaster for you and your family for a long period – ever since Dallas Safari Club and the Namibian authorities conceived the idea and put the hunt up for auction at the 2014 DSC convention. You probably decided on your bidding the moment the information was made public. We all know that your family and you faced insults, threats and defamation from those opposed to all hunting, when you proudly and publicly stood up to your decision. More than a year


http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/19/africa/namibia-rhino-hunt/index.html

http://www.cic-wildlife.org/2015/06/cic-praises-auctioned-black-rhino-hunt-as-a-great-support-to-rhino-conservation-in-namibia-1-june-2015/

http://www.cic-wildlife.org/2015/06/cic-praises-auctioned-black-rhino-hunt-as-a-great-support-to-rhino-conservation-in-namibia-1-june-2015/

http://www.iucn.org/





passed and you finally hunted the old bull. Can you tell our readers what made enter the bidding in the first place? Corey Knowlton: John Jackson (Conservation Force) asked me to bid at the DSC convention, before that I really wasn't committed to bid on this hunt. He proceeded to inform me that the anti-hunting community with their campaign of misinformation and hate had for all intents and purposes chased out a number of bidders that he was counting on to bid on the Rhino Hunt. So in short, I bid on the hunt as a favor to a friend who has fought like hell to keep wildlife and wild places protected from all sorts of threats. African Indaba: In this issue we publish an edited report by the Washington Post on your hunt. CNN also interviewed you and you decided to have the video of the hunt made public. Hunting is normally a very individual affair – very private and away from the eye of public - let us know your reasons. Corey Knowlton: I wanted the story to be told from the side of the people involved in the conservation effort and not the people who were trying to keep it from happening. I have had a lot of experience filming hunts as a Host of The Professionals and Uncharted along with Jim Shockey for five years. Much of my recent hunting experiences have been in the public eye so filming a hunt was not that daunting of a prospect for me. African Indaba: Are the media reports accurate? Corey Knowlton: That depends on which media reports you read or watch. The most accurate reporting that has been done thus far was done by Ed Lavandera and Jason Morris of CNN. They were on the hunt and had first-hand experience to use as a basis for their reporting. I believe that their reporting was very thorough and very accurate. (Editor’s note: see http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/africa/namibia-rhino-hunt/) African Indaba: What was the feedback from your fellow hunters? Corey Knowlton: Most were in favor. I believe that hunters by and large have a closer relationship with wildlife and a better handle on wildlife management than non-hunters so regardless if a given hunter would have personally took part in this hunt or not most of them understood the conservation benefits of this type of hunt. African Indaba: Give us some intimate insights in your feelings when you started tracking the bull Corey Knowlton: It was a very intense hunt and the pressure was very high. We wanted to make sure we took the correct animal and we knew what was at stake. Any time you hunt a dangerous animal your awareness needs to be almost uncanny to ensure the safety of the hunting party. Hentie Van Heerden, the PH, was great and without his professionalism it would have been a different experience all together. Overall I was pretty stressed throughout the hunt because of the implications if the hunt did not go perfectly. African Indaba: … when you faced him in the sights of your rifle? Corey Knowlton: I saw the rhino for less than three seconds. It charged Ed Lavandera, he ran towards me and the rhino followed. I shot twice with the .500 hitting it both times; Hentie shot twice hitting it once. We followed the blood trail and then found the rhino again and I shot again killing the rhino. It was a very emotional moment to say the least.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/africa/namibia-rhino-hunt/





African Indaba: … and when you finally stood in front of the dead bull? Corey Knowlton: I was thrilled that this whole ordeal had ended with the correct rhino being taken, Namibia receiving the contribution, the locals getting the meat. Overall I was very proud of what this hunt meant for the survival of the Black Rhino and the awareness it brought to the challenges that African Wildlife have to overcome. African Indaba: The US Fish & Wildlife Authority gave green light to import the black rhino trophy into the United States. Conservation Force chairman and CIC member John J Jackson III fought long and hard to win this important victory for the sustainable use of wildlife. Do you have a message for your fellow hunters around the world? Corey Knowlton: Keep fighting the good fight for what you know is right. Don't let the hate and misinformation campaigns brought against us keep you from doing your part for conservation and wildlife management. African Indaba: Corey, thank you very much for taking the time for this interview. Post script: Corey Knowlton recommends all readers to access what constitutes in his opinion the most thorough report on this hunt – please go to http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/africa/namibia-rhino-hunt/ for access. We also recommend our readers to also access Rhino trophy imports into the US: perspectives from the US and the impact on communities in Namibia, by IUCN SULi members John J Jackson III and Brian Jones Black rhino hunt: Why killing one bull is worth it for conservation by Dr Mike Knight, Chairman IUCN Species Survival Commission's African Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG) and the South African Development Community Rhino Management Group (SADC RMG) and Dr Richard Emslie, AfRSG Scientific Officer and also a SADC RMG member as well as the articles of Ivo Vegter, author of Extreme Environment: How environmental exaggeration harms emerging economies and columnist for the Daily Maverick (South Africa): Half-measures will fail the rhino, Cherry-picking ‘grey literature’ on rhino horn, Rhino horn: The proposal that could save the species and in particular Ivo Vegter naming 350,000 reasons to kill a black rhino. By the way – Ivo does not hunt! For more information about the world’s rhinos access Rhino Resource Center for all literature from the oldest to the most recent. Read full texts on the biology, history, captivity, husbandry, management and conservation of fossil and the six existing species of rhinoceros. Read both regular and grey literature. You can find current publications and reports from IUCN-SSC African Rhino Specialist Group, IUCN-SSC Asian Rhino Specialist Group, SADC Regional Program for Rhino Conservation, Husbandry manuals for the rhinoceros, International Rhino Keeper Association, Dissertations and theses, Rhino Vision 2020

AIR TRANSPORT AND ILLEGAL TRADE IN WILDLIFE Extracts from the Address by John E. Scanlon, Secretary-General of CITES at the 71st IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Miami, 8 June 2015

… A significant amount of wildlife and wildlife products are legitimately traded each year under CITES. Many of these are transported by air and we have enjoyed a longstanding and




https://www.iucn.org/about/union/commissions/sustainable_use_and_livelihoods_specialist_group/sulinews/issue_5/sn5_rhino/

https://www.iucn.org/about/union/commissions/sustainable_use_and_livelihoods_specialist_group/sulinews/issue_5/sn5_rhino/

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/21/opinions/rhino-hunt-is-conservation/

http://www.rhinos.org/

http://bookslive.co.za/bookfinder/ean/9781770223646

http://bookslive.co.za/bookfinder/ean/9781770223646

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2013-08-06-half-measures-will-fail-the-rhino/#.VXCluM-qqko

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2014-01-21-cherry-picking-grey-literature-on-rhino-horn/#.VXCk68-qqko

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2015-03-30-rhino-horn-the-proposal-that-could-save-the-species/#.VXCk7c-qqko

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2014-01-13-350000-reasons-to-kill-a-black-rhino/#.VXCk8c-qqko

http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/





beneficial relationship with IATA – especially in relation to CITES requirements for the transport of live animals and plants.

… [today I talk] about the devastating economic, social and environmental impacts of illegal trade in wildlife – being wildlife that is traded in contravention of CITES, how air transport is being used by criminals to transport their contraband and how the air transport sector can further engage in helping to combat this illegal trade…

… Brave rangers serving in the front lines are being killed and injured in the line of duty, officials are being corrupted, and local communities are being deprived of making their own development choices, including through the legitimate use of their wildlife resources.

… Magnificent wildlife destinations are being plundered by poachers for the illicit trade, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites that are being degraded across Africa, such as the Selous Reserve in United Republic of Tanzania – which has been included on the World Heritage ‘in danger’ list due to the high levels of poaching.

… [you] have tens of thousands of staff in the field dealing every day with customers, cargo and passengers and you have a deep knowledge of your own cargo supply chains. Your e-freight initiative offers opportunities for closer collaboration with CITES to better secure legal trade in wildlife through reducing the fraudulent use of permits and in detecting illegal trade. Read John Scanlon’s full speech HERE.

TRIBUTE TO WERNER TRENSE, 1922-2015 Dieter Schramm, President of Honor, International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation CIC “The three Bushmen on the other side of the river, they have been watching us since more than 3 hours – but now they are gone” Werner Trense shook his head – “No, they are not gone, and they were not just watching us – they are hungry. Take a boat over with some meat, grain, salt and other foodstuff and lay it down where they disappeared….”

It was around 1960, on Trense’s farm Mumba in Angola, which he built together with his wife Mutz, a world renowned pilot, when a few days later a grateful group of bushmen sat in his yard. Someone translated: “Would Werner be interested to hunt a very old elephant?” Would he ever! Then, the Bushmen explained, they would come again and fetch him, lead him to a place in the bush. There he should stay for 8 days – and they would slowly move the old bull to him. Which they did, and he took the old bull eventually. And the meat of the enormous animal fed the entire tribe for weeks …

Werner Trense was born on a farm in Mecklenburg, Germany on March

Werner Trense with his Bavarian Tracking Dog and

his tame Cheetah in Angola


http://cites.org/eng/news/sg/71st_iata_annual_general_meeting_address_cites_sg





23, 1922. Before he could follow his passion to study wildlife biology, he found himself drafted and served with distinction in the German Army as a tank commander during World War II. He survived the war and a Russian prisoner of war camp. On his return to Germany in 1947, he started to study zoology and ethnology in Hamburg, followed by Cambridge in 1949. Trense was fortunate enough to immediately land a job as biologist on the first German Polar Expedition in 1950, and made himself a name as a harpooner. But he also had to earn a living after the return and he signed up with a commercial fishing trawler. “Not that the girls particularly liked the way I smelled, when back on land …” he recounted with his signature cheerful smile.

After his first tour the captain announced a most welcome bonus; and typical for Werner he thought of sharing with his friends! Back on terra firma, he immediately invited them to a festive dinner at a harbor restaurant in Hamburg, and returned to the trawler to pick up his gear – and his bonus. “Would you believe it”, he grinned at me, telling the story, “my well-earned bonus consisted of a bag of fish … well, I cancelled the restaurant and the girls worked hard to prepare the fish that evening in my small student digs!”

The years 1952 to 1954 saw Trense as head of the University of Hamburg’s Angola Expedition”. This key experience started his love for and his infatuation with Africa, as well as his deep respect for the local population. He studied their different cultures with his typical open mindedness.

Werner and I shared many hours of hunting in different parts of the world and had ample opportunity to talk about the understanding and honoring the differences of local cultures. “You know, as an ethnologist today – they treat you as a racist, incredible, he mentioned more than once. “Yes, of course I am a racist, I once told a politician (who needs politicians anyway?), I love Bushmen, I love Inuit, I love Chukchi and Pygmies”, he continued. In the year 2000, on Werner Trense’s initiative, the General Assembly of the CIC was dedicated exclusively to the celebration of the life styles of these original hunter-fisher-gatherers of the planet.

For 25 years Werner Trense served the CIC, first as head of a Commission, followed by a long term as CIC Secretary General. He shaped the scientific backbone of the CIC and laid the groundwork for the organization’s reputation of today. Most certainly this alone is an enormous merit. But Werner’s role was even more decisive than just laying a solid scientific basis. At the height of the Cold War and when the Iron Curtain divided Europe, the ever enthusiastic Werner Trense built friendships across this almost impenetrable continental divide. Just as the title of his personal Memoire, Game does not know borders, suggests, and he was adamant that neither do hunters.

Today, as we travel almost without restrictions, cannot imagine what it meant at the time, when thanks to the CIC and CIC Secretary General Werner Trense, hunters from the Eastern Block joined forces with

Cohiba Aficcionado Werner Trense during his 90th Birthday Celebration at the home of Nina & Dieter

Schramm near Salzburg/Austria






their colleagues in the West. This was an invaluable service for the better understanding of people! My space for celebrating Werner Trense’s life in this issue of African Indaba is limited. One

cannot honor and do justice to such a personality as Werner by only citing his Curriculum vitae. All right, I mention briefly the further stations of his life.

He expanded his zoological knowledge with intensive studies under the tutorship of Prof. Dr. Hans Krieg of the Zoologische Staatssammlung (München). At the International Hunting Exhibition in Düsseldorf 1954 Werner served as expert on African Game. In two expeditions to Iran in 1956, he rediscovered a small population of the Mesopotamian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica), thought to be extinct by the 1940s, in the Khuzestan Province and brought some individuals back to the von Opel Zoo in Germany. Then followed the years of tobacco farming and cattle ranching in Angola. Just before the revolution, former Katanga strongman Moishe Tshombe warned Werner to leave Angola. He subsequently settled in Munich and worked with a passion for the CIC whilst maintaining his valuable friendships around the globe. During this time his still topical and widely distributed book Big Game of the World took shape. And last not least – Werner Trense scientifically most valuable collection of the antlers of all the Cervids of the World needs to be mentioned – the collection included all known species and sub-species, extant and extinct. The only antler set missing – the Corsican or Sardinian red deer (Cervus elaphus corsicanus) – was presented to Werner by the CIC on occasion birthday of Werner’s 90th birthday celebration.

Werner and I often had long discussions on measuring hunting trophies. “A gold medal specimen is a luxury of nature,” he used to state adamantly, what we are looking for is the average trophy, as a bio indicator for a healthy game population”. Werner was totally opposed to the trophy craziness of certain hunters and vigorously fought against viewing a hunting experience only through the narrow slit of the size of a trophy.

I have the honor to quote Prof. Valerius Geist’s remarks about Werner Trense: “Werner Trense was exceptional. He was a man of great physical, but above all intellectual courage, one who deeply appreciated knowledge, and who continually fostered its creation. And it was not knowledge in any narrow sense, far from it. Werner Trense thought in great strategic terms, yet fully appreciative of the nuts and bolts and idiosyncrasies of knowledge creation. And that made him a fascinating partner in any discussion. Yes, one could learn from him. I must dwell on knowledge, because for Werner Trense it was so vital for conservation, for public policy, and he strove to present the brightest and the best in his books. He had a fine gift in his ability to communicate, not only by word, but also by images”.

Do we miss him? For sure, but we are also proud of, and grateful for the time, we spent together; we value the many fascinating interpretations of life he taught us and others. The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation CIC owes Werner Trense, the CIC Honorary Secretary General, the creative foundation to our fundamental positioning as a conservation leader in our task to promote, across the globe, sustainable hunting as a tool to conserve wildlife and wild lands, benefit communities and sustain our hunting heritage.






SHANE’S CORNER Beginning with this issue of African Indaba, we will bring you in every future issue an article of Shane Mahoney under the heading “SHANE’S CORNER”.

Shane Mahoney is considered a leading international authority on wildlife conservation. Born and raised in Newfoundland, Canada, he is a rare combination of historian, scientist, hunter, and philosopher - he brings a unique perspective to conservation issues that has motivated and inspired audiences around the world. He was named one of the 10 Most Influential Canadian Conservationists by Outdoor Canada Magazine, as

well as Conservationist of the Year by Safari Club International. He serves as Vice–Chair of IUCN’s CEESP/SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group, as well as North American Expert to the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC). Shane conveys through both his writing and lectures a profound commitment to rural societies and the sustainable use of natural resources, including fish and wildlife.

HUNTING AND THE ART OF HUMAN EXISTENCE Shane Mahoney

Over long and now misted millennia, the rhythm of our human existence was the same. Pursuing our sacred and relentless desire to survive, we hunted and gathered the living things that suited our physical needs for food and warmth. Across endless wild environments we perfected the one great arc of our existence, the first great act of globalization. We marched slowly out of Africa and encircled our world, driven by need and curiosity and fueled by the death of wild others. Perfecting the weapons, we fashioned the stone, honed the bone and wood, and hunted our way into modernity. Against nearly impossible odds, we developed a pathway to existence that was to become the hallmark of our species and the most enduring portal to our natural selves.

Humans became the greatest hunters the natural world has ever seen. No other species could match the range of our capacity or the limitlessness of our inventions. Small, slow, and fragile, our children rose to strength and stature on the flesh and bone of wild brethren. Upon our campfires roasted the great and fierce giants of the animal world. Along ocean margins and ice field skirts, and from endless steppe to brooding mountain peak, the hunter excelled – our very existence testimony to the most eloquent equation ever derived: energy and matter are interchangeable. The flesh we consumed became the flesh we were; the blood we drained became the river of our lives. Human and animal became inseparable; life and death were but a circle.

A long way down this road, a man would eventually write this equation down. When he did, we would revere him and call him the greatest physicist of all time. In reality, he was just a wild-eyed hunter, running down the truth. Both his mind and his pen were surely the inventions of his hunting past.

Thus we see the inseparable tie between our history and our future, the seamless flow of our existence. Complicated and enduring, hunters were, however, gathering far more than the flesh of fruit and the blood of animals as they hunted the landscapes around them. The hunters were also endlessly discovering the secrets of the natural world. Through patient study, they were coming to understand our place in the unending cycle of death and resurrection. Evening fires illuminated the deep impressions of this experience.






They had witnessed the cunning of the great carnivores and the vigilance of the prey; and the intense but pitiless death that lay in between. They knew that each animal lived a different life and was to be found in a different place. The hunters exploited these frailties. Through butchering, the hunter knew what they ate and something of how their bodies worked. Hunters recognized the craving for fat and were aware of the best season to secure it. They came to know when the rivers were full, when the rookeries were alive, and when the plains would squirm with new life. Consciously suspended in the wondrous web of life, human hunters would become the first ecologists.

Along this miraculous way, the hunter also came to understand the profound implications of procreation. Observing the wondrous bond between wild mother and offspring, they watched as tiny new life was birthed and the female turned to consume the sack from which it writhed. Enthralled by the ferocious passions of males in rut, passions that allowed hunters to approach and kill them, hunters came to understand the function of display and ornamentation in mating – the flash of antlers, the costumes and colors of the strutting male, the dancing of cranes.

Slowly, but certainly, hunters began to understand the need for all this complexity, and why it was required to ensure both animal existence and their own future. Lush grasses became fat deer from which the wolf pup was spawned. Like their animal counterparts, tribes well-nourished on the abundance of animals prospered and bore many strong children to strong mothers and fathers. This knowledge bore witness to the indivisibility of life and that the miracle of transubstantiation was no rare thing. Indeed, did not the flowers grow in abundance where the mammoths were butchered? Further, should not their own dead be given back to the earth, interred to commence their decomposition to another form?

In coming to understand this great cycle of life, death, and rebirth, the human animal explored the boundaries of reality, the horizons of existence. Finally, humans would acknowledge the wondrous parallels between the lives of animals and their own needs and emotions. Animals would become our brothers, just as native cultures everywhere would remind us. Somewhere along this road, philosophy was born.

So it was surely inevitable that are and spirituality would rise in the human species. Faced with a world of startling fullness, yet with existence a struggle for all, humans were led to question their own origins and the purpose of existence. They saw the wondrous complexities around them, but where in all of this magic and mayhem did they fit?

An expanding brain, fueled by animal protein and an increasing emphasis on tool use and manufacture, carried with it the increased capacity to reason, and reflect. Falling sometimes to the great predators that made humans their prey, and at others elated by killing great beasts where weakness would have meant failure, the hunting human prevailed and saw the world through a primate’s eyes, but with a predator’s vision.

Thus it was that hunting cultures around the world developed rich mythologies centered upon the natural world. They saw the kill as an inevitable act and a gift from some power whose identity they might only imagine. As the magnificent cave art suggests, humans thus ceased to instinctively participate in the kill and began an intellectual and spiritual journey that tied both the hunting lifestyle and the magnificent creatures upon which they depended for survival. Those theriomorphic figures displayed on cave walls and ceilings – the half human, half-animal shape-shifters – attest to the recognition of the inseparableness of life and a shamanistic journey to other dimensions and realities.

Thus was the hunting human transformed, no longer a brute creature who killed with indifference but one who could worship the beauty and grace of the wild others and who could be






convinced that hunting was not only something that was, but something that always had to be. The wild others were now essential companions of the hunter – more than just meat and marrow.

It was through the hunt that we came to an understanding of the very nature of existence. At a crucial point in our journey, we stepped away from the path of others and re-entered nature in a more vital and conscious way. Our metamorphosis from brute to intellectual carried these notions of art and beauty, the imaginings of parallel universes, the concepts of resurrection and transubstantiation, the logic of empirical observation and the miraculous preoccupation with trying to find a purpose for it all.

Biologically as constrained as ever, humanity was set free in the truest sense of the word. These deepest parts of our humanity are not the constructs of modernity, of Newtonian

science, or Judeo-Christian beliefs. These concepts were already fully formed when the hand-held spear was still being thrust through the mammoth’s ribs.

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