Alldays Driven Hunt

[harrys]

I think we all have our opinions and as long as the law says it's legal there is nothing we can do about it

[Richprins]

No, the law also says the Kruger hotels are legal, for example...

And we fight that?

I'm just giving my opinion, and the Alldays thing may go wrong?

[Richprins]

'Claims of unethical hunting because we are blacks doing well'
2015-09-10 05:53

News24 Correspondent


Polokwane - The Tshivhula Communal Property Association, which has faced criticism for its game hunting, says it is being targeted because it is "among the few blacks who are in this business and doing well".

Animal rights organisations such as the NSPCA and the Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation have strongly condemned the Association, expressing concern at the practice of "platform hunting". While it was not against the law, the animal rights groups have maintained that it was unethical.

This was in spite of the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs saying it had no intention of withdrawing the hunting permit for the four farms owned by Tshivhula.

The department insists it was not in violation of hunting permit regulations.

The association’s secretary Simon Mafela told News24 on Wednesday there was nothing illegal happening on their farms and accused the media of tarnishing their business's image.

"We have shown the department officials and SPCA everything and travelled with them during hunting, and they have seen that we are not doing anything illegal. We are among the few blacks who are in this business and doing well," said Mafela.

He said the farm had attracted foreign and domestic game hunters because they maintained a professional standard.

The farms were given to the community by the Land Restitution and Rural Development department in 2010, he said. Mafela said the community was not given grants by government to run the farm and were forced to get partners to help them.

Since then, he said business was booming and they had increased their staff from 40 to 150.

He said the accusations that they were allowing unethical hunting was because of jealousy. He accused their unnamed competitors, saying there were also a plot to stop their international clients from embarking on the hunts.

"They knew that we were scheduled to receive clients who were coming from as far as Europe and immediately they arrived [and] started making noise about unethical hunting," he said, but did not mention names.

Mafela said since the alleged "massacre" caught international headlines following a hunt; he was insulted and even called barbaric.

"But those that listen to us, and understand our explanation ended up apologising," he said.

Environmental Affairs spokesperson Simon Matome confirmed the department had received complaints, but said following investigations, they found the claims to be without substance.

"We have done our investigations. I was there too, and we did not find something illegal," he said.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/ ... l-20150910

[Lisbeth]

'Claims of unethical hunting because we are blacks doing well'

Nonsense!! Why does everybody have to use the racist excuse

It would have been even worse if the organizer was white. Most black people do not care about the animals; that is a characteristic of the more advanced cultures. Just like ecological understanding.

[Richprins]

Well, theoretically the "more advanced cultures" from Europe are coming here to blast away at innocent animals, Lis!

[Lisbeth]

Those are the "left overs" from back then, who do not know better and get rid of their complexes shooting at innocent animals The locals cannot afford it

[Richprins]

But their "ecological understanding"? How does that fit in, as I agree the local poulation understand that the wildlife benefits need to go to the community too? Check the jobs created?

[Lisbeth]

The importance of ecological behaviour is understood by very few. The poorer the country the less the understanding of ecology. The richer the country the more the "underground" protest against ecology, because it limits the margins of profit.

The safeguarding of wildlife is part of the ecological chain.

[Richprins]

I don't understand at all? Our local hunters, commercially, account for the vast majority of legal hunts?

And plenty of "subsistence" hunting and snaring happens every day?

[Flutterby]

An open letter from John Varty:

Driven Hunts - An Open Letter to Simon Mafela - John Varty's post.

Hello Simon

Regarding your driven hunt on your farm near Alldays, I make the following points.

You have made some wide straight roads across your property so that the hunters can see the running animals. Surely you didn’t just bulldoze through different veld types. Also your wide roads are not drained so in the first rains you will be left with a high level of erosion. This will trigger bush encroachment and other unproductive cycles. Therefore unless you propose to do another hunt, you have severely scarred your land permanently for just 7 days hunting.

The stands you made do not have a gun rests. Therefore the hunters are shooting from their shoulders. This means that many animals will be wounded. My experience is that European hunters battle to even hit a stationary animal let alone a running one. Therefore my question is how do you know that the animal is not wounded and how do you follow up immediately to put the animal out of its misery, or don’t you follow up?

If you don’t follow up then aren’t you losing revenue because the hunter has wounded an animal for which he has not paid.

Have you stipulated what guns the hunters must use. If an impala runs across the road, a 30.06 may be okay but if a kudu or eland runs across, it is too light. I presume you have insisted on heavy calibres and checked that all guns are sighted and that the hunters are good shots, or is it if they can pay, they automatically get into the hunt?

In the Carte Blanche interview, you seem very concerned with race. In the pictures I see only wealthy white hunters. I presume you did invite also black hunters and especially hunters from the local Alldays community?

What is happening to the meat? Do the wealthy European hunters get all the meat? Does the Alldays community get any of the meat? Surely you can’t be sending out a message to the local subsistence poachers that it’s okay for wealthy white hunters to blast away, wounding animals and killing some, while they, the poachers, get locked up for catching an impala in a wire snare. The poachers are after all only trying to feed their families, while the wealthy hunters are shooting for fun.

Driven hunts were invented in Europe because the Kings were too fat and could not walk.

Why, as a matter of interest, would you try to emulate an outdated cruel practice which was invented in Europe. We in Africa are leaders not followers. The hunters on your hunt come from countries where there is no wildlife. They killed it a long time ago? Now you allow them to kill our wildlife from raised deck chairs!

The rut for many of the animals was in April. It is now September so many of the females are pregnant. How does a European hunter determine whether a fleeing animal is pregnant or not? The answer is he doesn’t! Therefore if he kills a pregnant animal, he has actually killed two. Do you then charge him a double head tax? Do you show him, and if his wife is there, them the foetus to prove that the female was pregnant and he must pay double?

Simon, you have a valuable game farm and you also create valuable jobs in the local community. Therefore why would you allow European wealthy hunters to hunt and wound fleeing animals with high powered rifles. You bring shame on yourself, your community and our country.

I ask you sincerely to reconsider this and find a more ethical and less cruel way of using your land and its wildlife.

Tread lightly on the Earth
JV