Authorities defend major wildlife culling

Wildlife conservationists, scientists and researchers have warned of impending legal action to halt the culling of wildlife as a ‘mitigation strategy’ to address hunger in Namibia. A government cull of more than 700 wildlife to cope with its worst drought in decades is under way, with 160 animals already killed, the Environment Ministry has confirmed. Fin24 reports that the cull was announced last week to relieve pressure on grazing and water supplies, and to provide meat for programmes to support the thousands of people going hungry because of the drought. Carried out by professional hunters, it targets 30 hippos, 60 buffaloes, 50 impalas, 83 elephants, 100 blue wildebeest, 100 eland and 300 zebras. Voice of America reports that the Cabinet decision requiring the Ministry of Environment to aid the drought relief effort has drawn the ire of conservationists and made international headlines. It's also dividing public opinion on the timing of the decision and the logistics of culling and distributing the meat to affected communities, who are severely affected by drought.

Conservationist Izak Smit said Namibia's Constitution makes provision for the protection of its natural wildlife and heritage, and the cull could have detrimental effects on the balance of wildlife. ‘It's very irresponsible to do so after a drought before the rainy season when you actually need the population to procreate in order to bounce back from the drought,’ Smit said. ‘And also culling means that you do not allow nature to take its course by weeding out the weak genetic material through natural selection, from which the best genetic pool will then emerge on the other side after the drought when the rainy season again starts.’ Opponents threatened legal action if the authorities do not stop the cull on the grounds that it is detrimental to Namibia's natural resources, not sustainable, and not justifiable and unscientific. VoA notes that Herbert Jauch, of the Economic and Social Justice Trust, said a court of law may not be the right avenue to resolve the disagreement between the government and the conservationists, which seems to be centred on the need to protect Namibia's Desert Adapted Elephants, which are a huge tourism attraction and an iconic heritage wildlife species in the country. Romeo Muyunda, a spokesperson for Namibia's Ministry of Environment, said the cull has been blown out of proportion and Namibia's Desert Adapted Elephants are not the target of elephants earmarked for culling. ‘We have millions of wildlife species in the country, approximately over 3m animals in the country,’ Muyunda said. ‘So, 723 does not even make up 1% of the total population that we have. Another example we have is the 24 000 elephants that we have in Namibia, we are only going to cull 83 elephants, and it still doesn't make 1% of the population of elephants especially given the fact that elephants are currently the main concern here.’

Full Voice of America report

Full Fin24 report