News from Around Africa
Angola
Pedro vaz Pinto, the man who monitors the Giant Sable via
the infrared cameras purchased with the assistance of Brendan
O’Keeffe from South Africa and Dallas Safari Club, was honored
with the 2006 Whitley Award at a ceremony in London at the
Royal Geographic Society, presided by Princess Anne. The
award was not only an honor for vaz Pinto’s contribution to Giant
Sable conservation, but was sweetened by £30,000 dedicated to
the project.
Vaz Pinto further reported that some more photos of breeding animals were taken and it appears that most females photographed were pregnant. Unfortunately the photographs revealed no sign of the bull! Unfortunately there were also incidents of poaching near the Ombe River discovered by a routine patrol operation. Realizing he had been spotted, the poacher fired three shots and the patrol returned fire. An AK-47 plus a bicycle and a backpack with clothes were found on the scene.
Botswana
The foot and mouth outbreak in Botswana has not been affected
hunting operations in the country. The Botswana Wildlife
Management Association (BWMA) confirmed this and further
informed that the disease outbreak might, however, cause certain
delays in the export of trophies.
Botswana
A 76 year old man was trampled to death by an elephant at a
cattle post in Botswana. Another man was killed by an elephant
last year in the same area. Area MP P. Kedikilwe said the growing
number of elephant in the district is of great concern as they
compete for land and resources with people.
Namibia
Almut Kronsbein has been appointed as new Namibian Professional
Hunters’ Association (NAPHA) CEO as from 1 June
2006. Carlin Sobotta took on the position of Executive Secretary,
Natasha Sheldon, who is currently responsible for the capturing
of Scientific Data will also resume front office duties and Barbara
von Marschall will be primarily responsible for sales etc. The
NAPHA office can be contacted at [email protected]
Namibia
The annual Outjo catalogue game auction had 885 animals
on offer and a turnover in excess of N$3 million with 36 buyers
from all over Namibia participating. The top price for a white
rhinoceros was N$180,000. Roan antelope fetched N$60,000,
waterbuck and nyala an average price of N$8,000 and N$9,500
respectively; the highest price for sable antelope reached
N$32,000, red lechwe sold for N$15,000 and eland went for
N$5,000.
Namibia
The current outbreak of rabies in kudu started about two
years ago in the Wilhemstal area, but has also shown up east of
Windhoek and southeast of Otjiwarango. Cases have also been
reported at Omitara. The deadly viral disease is believed to be a
consequence of an over-population of kudu, which then facilitates
a rapid spread of the virus from one dense population to
another through saliva and grooming. In particular, infection
appears to occur when an uninfected animal browses a shrub
that has just been browsed by an infected animal. Thus, moist
saliva from the infected animal that is left on the shrub then is
passed into the mouth of the uninfected animal as it browses
there. The current outbreak has not been nearly as severe as
the outbreaks in the past have been, but it is still possible that
the disease could intensify during the next year or two.
Sierra Leone
The first ever photograph of a wild pygmy hippo has been
taken by a camera trap during a ground-breaking wildlife survey
of war-torn Sierra Leone. Hexaprotodon liberiensis is classified
as "vulnerable" on the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Red
List of endangered species. Populations of these elusive hippos
have been fragmented and in severe decline for many years, so
much so that biologists feared it would soon follow its Madagascan
cousin, Hippopotamus madagascariensis, into extinction.
But the new sighting and the results of an extensive "search for
survivors" suggest that the hippos have managed to endure the
severe pressures of loss of habitat and subsistence hunting by
rebel soldiers during 12 years of brutal civil war, says Sanjayan
Muttulingam, lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy in Washington
DC, which carried out the study. "The pygmy hippo is
probably the rarest large mammal you could find in Africa." It
most likely owes its survival to the fact that it lives in very inhospitable
marshes and forests.
South Africa
Two members of the Gumbi community from northern
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, were taken on a visit to Damaraland
in Namibia with the WWF/Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Black
Rhino Range Expansion Project. The Gumbi community recently
won a land-claim on 30,000 hectares of previously white-owned
land in KwaZulu-Natal. As the land is good black rhino habitat
and had been managed as successful game ranches, the Black
Rhino Range Expansion Project is working closely with the new
landowners to encourage them to become a future Project site
rather than convert the land to subsistence cattle farming.
Accompanied by Chris Weaver (WWF Life Project) the Gumbi representatives visited community-run conservancies to get an understanding of the different business and institutional models that Namibian conservancies have adopted. The Gumbi land may have to be run more as a business with shareholders than a community-based conservancy. This is because the members of the Gumbi clan are widespread across the country and have not actually been on the land concerned for many years, unlike the situation in Namibia where conservancies are run by communities which live on the land.
South Africa
In a freak hunting accident 16-year-old Ryan Dankwerts was
instantly killed when a ricocheting rock fragment hit the young
man under the ear. Ryan was one of a group of 13 relatives and
friends who went hunting to celebrate the start of the new hunting
season last Saturday. The accident happened when the
group of hunters spotted a bushbuck and all shot at the animal.
A police spokesperson confirmed that a rock fragment was
found in Ryan's skull and said that "one bullet might have hit a
stone or a piece of rock and a fragment must have ricocheted
and hit the boy under his right ear."
South Africa
Dr Peet van der Merwe and Prof. Melville Saayman published
a national survey of the local South African hunting market. According
to the study, which followed a 2004 pilot study in North
West Province, the country’s approximately 200,000 hunters are
estimated to spend close to three billion Rand per year, two
thirds of that amount being spent on game alone. This figure
comes very close to the 2.935 billion Rand published in G R
Damm’s 2005 article "Hunting in South Africa: Facts, Risks, Opportunities".
Tanzania
Chief Secretary Philemon Luhanjo said the Director of Wildlife
in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Emmanuel
Severe, was right in refusing to accept the transfer order given
by his permanent secretary. Minister Anthony Diallo had asked
his permanent secretary to transfer Severe and other directors
from the ministry's headquarters, but they decided to stay put.
Severe himself was supposed to go to the Forestry Institute in
Arusha. Luhanjo said the PS violated public service regulations
when he wrote transfer letters to Severe and the others who are
presidential appointees. He said before doing so he should have
asked for a clearance from the president who appointed the
directors in the first place. "The PS also demoted them, and that
was another mistake. I had to cancel out the order not to protect
them but to defend the rule of law. If the PS is not satisfied he
can complain to the president," Luhanjo emphasized. With this
action Luhanjo in fact, overruled not only the PS but also Minister
Diallo.
It is reported that a Committee of Enquiry will start looking into
hunting administration and that public pressure is mounting with
a number of critical newspaper articles having appeared. Donors
are also reported to be highly critical of the present situation
Uganda
Andrew Kasirye, a lawyer previously serving on the Judicial
Commission of Inquiry into the mismanagement of the Global
Fund against Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis has been appointed
Chairman of Board of Directors of Uganda Wildlife Authority
(UWA) to replace John Nagenda. The appointment took
effect from May 3rd 2006. Kasirye will serve for three years.
Zambia
Minister Kabinga Pande has dissolved the Zambia Wildlife
Authority (ZAWA) management board that was appointed in
January 2005. He announced in a statement yesterday that the
dissolution of the board that was constituted on a three-year
term was necessitated by the need to re-align the membership
so that it could effectively play its role as stipulated in the ZAWA
Act of 1998. The composition of the board should have had a
diversity of requisite experience to enable it help Government in
effectively over-seeing the ZAWA management. He commended
the outgoing ZAWA board for its invaluable contribution especially
in the recruitment of ZAWA director-general who assumed
office in May.
Source: African Indaba – an electronic newsletter as a public service 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 is published six times a year and distributed free-of-charge via e-messaging service. You can subscribe to the full newsletter by sending an email with your full address to [email protected].
