Namibia to prohibit hunting trophy social media photos

Environment and Tourism Minister Pohamba Shifeta, speaking at the launch of the revised National Policy on Human-Wildlife Conflict Management in Windhoek last week, said the Ministry was working on having the Nature Conservation Ordinance 4 of 1975 amended to prohibit and punish individuals who posted photos with dead wild animals on social media. According to a report on the allAfrica site, he said the punishment would apply to everyone, including those with hunting permits, as ‘especially those with hunting permits applaud themselves by posting pictures with dead animals on social media after conservancy hunting’. The Minister said the photos on social media misrepresented hunting in Namibia. ‘Hunting is permitted by the Namibian Constitution. However, it is morally not correct to post such pictures. People can take pictures for private use only, but not to post on social media,’ said Shifeta.