MINISTRY SETS UP A TASK FORCE ON WILDLIFE UTILIZATION

[Flutterby]

Ministry of Tourism - Kenya added 8 new photos — with John Paul.
March 24 at 9:44am ·
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

24th March, 2018

MINISTRY SETS UP A TASK FORCE ON WILDLIFE UTILIZATION

The Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife has set up a Task Force to look into the modalities of wildlife utilization as set out in Section 4(f), Section 72, and the Eighth Schedule of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, 2013.

The Cabinet Secretary Hon. Najib Balala, EGH, on Friday 23rd March, 2018 established the Task Force, which will be headed by former KWS Director Dr. David Western. The other Task Force Members will be announced soon through a gazette notice.

The Task Force will evaluate options of consumptive utilization of wildlife (game farming and game ranching) in community and private lands, taking cognizance of the impacts, successes and failures of the previous wildlife cropping program.

The Task Force will also evaluate how consumptive utilization will contribute to the national GDP, food security, job creation and livelihood support, with a view of creating co-existence between communities and wildlife.

- END -

[Richprins]

Same as us, no mention is made of the existing benefits of (Non-consumptive) Ecotourism..

[okie]

Hmmm.... maybe the will take cognisance of what has in South Africa due to " game ranching " .

Some " conservationists " decided to start breeding so-called " rare " animals ( white springbok , green kudu , yellow black wildebeest , purple lions , etc ) and these were sold at enormous prices to suckers who also wanted to start breeding them in order to shoot the poor animals as trophies , by rich Americans and those ilk .
So , very shortly after , every guy , his wife and girlfriend , with a piece of land somewhere started thinking that they were expert genetisists , and could re-breed the whole animal kingdom into freak specimens , all of which would bring them big ( not small ) fortunes from trophy hunting .
But , this went just too far , and oversees hunters noted that these freak animals were bred like rabbits , in small enclosures , and they were even marked with ear-tags for ID purposes -- and for stud-breeding purposes .
So , those said , bugger it , we no longer get a true AFRICA SAFARI experience in South Africa , and in any event , it is not nice to shoot an animals in a small enclosure , a few minutes after it was hand-fed by the " Big- game Safari operator " , especially finding out that this supposedly " record " animal goes by fancy name such a Fanfare Matotsi of Lobengula - and is the second son of Greathorn 90 inch SpringKudu Wildebeest the 3rd .
There is no real fun in shooting such an animal .
So , those hunters are now shooting their genuine Africa Safari trophies in Namibia .
So , it came to pass that in the recent few years , overseas hunter numbers to South Africa dropped from 16394 in 2008 , to only 6539 in 2016 , and even fewer in 2017 ( figures not available yet ) .
Whereas , Namibia saw a drastic GROWTH in hunter numbers , from fewer that 4000 in 2008 , up to around 18000 in 2017 .....they don't put ear-tags on the animals in Namibia

Makes you think , hey ?

[Richprins]

Interesting, okie! Ja a mate of mine told me yesterday he lost his job on a hunting farm as revenue was plummeting...although it may be oversupply. They can't sell the farm either due to the Expropriation crap.

[okie]

Well , did you know that during the past 10 years or so , that suddenly around 33 % of all farmers in South Africa became game farmers
Forty years ago , there were 120 000 commercial farmers in South Africa . This number dwindled to less than 35 000 a few years ago .
Today , officially , there are around 30 000 commercial farmers , and amongst all their activities , 10 000 actively farm with approximately 20 million game animals That is more 10 % than the 18 million sheep in this country .

[Richprins]

Good for conservation though, as vast areas are kept relatively natural!

[okie]

And maybe the other 20 000 should also become game farmers , and we all starve to death

[Dindingwe]

No, we will hunt the game to eat

[Richprins]

[Lisbeth]

and all die from heart attacks