Namibia – Philosophy on Hunting and Wildlife
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African Indaba e-Newsletter, Vol. 1. No. 6 Page 1 AFRICAN INDABA Volume 1, Issue No 6 e-Newsletter November 2003 Dedicated to the People and Wildlife of Africa 26th that “Aids may be driving the African lion into extinc- 1 Another debate – this time tion” and continued to state “scientists reporting a devastating col- lapse of the African lion population from 230 000[sic] in 1980 to fewer the African Lion than 20 000 now, the decline has traditionally been blamed on loss of By Gerhard R Damm natural habitat and hunting. But advances in virology and groundbreak- ing field research suggest large numbers of lions could be dying from In Vol 1/2 the article “Safari Hunting of Lion” contained AIDS because their immune system has been destroyed by lion lentivirus, a summary of papers which Karyl Whitman and Petri Viljoen the lion version of HIV.” In the same article, Briton Kate presented to the African Lion Working Group (ALWG) in Nicholls and her Dutch partner Pieter Kat even argued that 2002. I started my introduction that “the real or perceived the African lion figure to be close to 15 000. And the UK’s 3 th decline in lion populations in sub-Saharan Africa is not the Independent Digital News headlined on October 8 “Rich issue”. Recent media reports, like those published on the web Tourist trophy hunters are wiping out African lion population, conserva- 1 by the BBC News World Edition on October 7th and in tionists warn” (guess who was the quoted “leading British scien- New Scientist Magazine on September 20th have proved me tist”). wrong. Fortunately, Dr Frank is also quoted by New Scientist’s BBC quotes Professor David Macdonald, director of Paine to have said that “people like to see wild animals against a WildCRU, Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Re- spectacular scenic backdrop, but much bush country is dull and scrubby, search Unit, announcing the results of his team's 5-year study and the wildlife hard to spot. The industry is fragile, too. The recent of lion conservation, which has concentrated on fieldwork in terrorist alerts have hit Kenya very hard. And tourism is never likely to Zimbabwe and Botswana. The article continues with a state- be lucrative enough to protect the huge areas of habitat that species such ment that the estimate of 20 000 lions or fewer compares with a population of about 200 000 in the early 1980s. As the same Continued on Page 2 figures are mentioned on Professor Macdonald’s WildCRU website http://www.wildcru.org/ I assume that BBC quoted INSIDE THIS ISSUE him correctly. At the end of the article Macdonald says “The 1. Another debate – this time the African Lion by lions' decline is shocking, because it suggests they're a Gerhard Damm great deal more frail than we might have thought. If they 2. The status of black and white rhinoceros on private were all in your sitting room, 20 000 lions might sound a land in South Africa by Anthony Hall-Martin & Guy lot, but we're talking about an entire continent.” Castley I also had the impression that Macdonald may dislike 3. The Friedkin Conservation Fund – Making a differ- hunting. This impression is reinforced by WildCRU’s connec- ence in Tanzania by Craig Doria tions to Born Free Foundation. Dr Claudio Sillero, a co- 4. A view from the International Council for Game worker of Professor Macdonald at Oxford University and and Wildlife Conservation by Dieter Schramm deputy chair of the IUCN Canid Specialist Group (Mac- 5. Strange Lions donald holds the chair), is also Head of Conservation of Born 6. IUCN Species Survival Commission and its special- Free. (quote from the Borne Free website: “Born Free’s Head of ist groups Conservation, Dr Claudio Sillero, has been participating actively in a 7. News from Africa series of lion conservation workshops in various southern African coun- 8. Criteria and indicators of sustainable hunting tries by our partner WildCRU at Oxford University”). 9. African Indaba Bookshelf In New Scientist2 staff writer Stephanie Paine reports an 10. African Indaba – The way forward interview with Dr. Laurence Frank, wildlife biologist from the 11. Sustainable Hunting at the WPC in Durban University of California. Dr. Frank stated the African lion 12. Namibia – Philosophy on hunting and wildlife by population with 23 000 and Paine goes on to say that “20 years Kai Uwe Denker ago the lion population seemed in good shape. There were no hard figures 13. Did you know … ? but conservationists guessed there were around 200 000.” It seems 14. Operation Black Ghost – The Quest for the last that Paine got that latter figure from WildCRU. Other media West African Black Rhino by Campbell Scott rearranged Dr Frank’s statement into this headline: “Lion 15. Lion conservation and lion hunting by Ron Thom- populations have fallen by almost 90% in the past 20 years, leaving the son animal close to extinction in Africa, a wildlife expert has warned.” The 16. African Lion – What the hunter can do by Gerhard Chicago Suntimes Newspaper even discovered on October Damm African Indaba is a e-newsletter for hunter-conservationists and all people who are interested in the conservation, management and the sustainable use of Africa’s wild natural resources. African Indaba e-Newsletter, Vol. 1. No. 6 Page 2 Continued from Page 1 for lion population in sub-Saharan Africa (North Africa has a 1 Another debate – this time the African Lion zero population) could be put around 40 000 to 50 000 – a figure which is astonishingly close to the 39 000 to 47 000 as lions and wild dogs need. lion as established by Philippe Chardonnet in his 2002 study The alternative is trophy hunting. Many people don't like the idea, “Conservation of the African Lion”4. It would be a sensible and it has been banned in Kenya for the past 25 years. Frank is a reluc- course of action if the African Lion Working Group and the tant supporter - as long as hunting is properly regulated and doesn't put IUCN Cat Specialist Group encourage Chardonnet and Bauer predator populations at risk. ‘Paid hunting has brought about a huge to discuss their respective results in a joint paper – and to also resurgence of wildlife in South Africa and Namibia, and it is a mainstay include papers ( like those of Viljoen and Whitman5) dealing of the economy in Tanzania, Botswana and Zimbabwe,’ says Frank. with the aspect of sustainable lion utilization. Sport hunting requires the preservation of large tracts of land because it Incidentally, Bauer and van der Merwe mention that takes a large, healthy population of animals to produce a few old trophy many large lion populations in East and Southern Africa have males. It is also more robust than tourism: Zimbabwe no longer has an been stable over the last three decades and that [lion] conser- ecotourism industry but sport hunting is still going strong. vation is bolstered by safari hunting and tourism revenues, If conservation is to succeed, there must be a balance between the allowing for conservation in natural lands outside National needs of the carnivores and the needs of the people. If persistent livestock Parks. killers aren't dealt with, people will revert to shooting and poisoning I know for a fact that some academic lion experts show predators. Trophy hunting may be unpalatable, but it is practical. A unhappiness with the insinuation of a catastrophic decline in trophy hunter will spend $30,000 to shoot a big male lion. Apparently lion numbers in Africa. Dr Frank – according to our informa- some will pay $15,000 for a female. In Laikipia you could make half a tion – made this clear in communications with his colleagues million dollars a year by shooting the problem animals that are going to that he never mentioned the number of 230 000 or 200 000 be killed anyhow. That would be enough to offset the cost of the entire lion. Professor Macdonald who certainly knows the study of local lion population for the next decade.” Bauer and van der Merwe as well as the figures published by Professor Macdonald has access to the IUCN-ALWG African Nowell and Jackson earlier has not made any statement ex- Lion Working Group Study (by Hans Bauer and Sarel van der cept that the website of WildCRU still advertises the figure of Merwe4), which says “the number of free ranging African lions (Pan- 200 000 African lion. That may have a reason in the connec- thera leo) has never been assessed … an inventory of available informa- tion to Born Free Foundation, since the emotional response which the recent media reporting has created, might well end tion, covering most protected areas and ranging in quality from educated up in generating funds for new research projects. guesses to individually known populations … gives a conservative esti- The entire debate at this stage looks rather similar to the mate of between 16 500 and 30 000 free ranging lions in Africa.” The emerging elephant debate some decades ago. Against better breakdown of numbers in this report shows an estimate of 23 knowledge, scientists remained silent, when the international 000 lion with a minimum of 16 500 and a maximum of 30 media, abetted by an assortment of so called animal rights 000! (Editor’s comment: van der Merwe said in a personal communication: “Nobody can make a sound calculation of the decline organizations, went on a frenzy proclaiming the perceived immediate extinction of the African elephant. Setting matters in lion numbers since Nowell and Jackson's 1996 publication.