South Africa Lifts Ban To Allow Killing of Elephants

South Africa said Monday that it will start killing elephants to reduce their burgeoning numbers, ending a 13-year ban and possibly setting a precedent for other African nations.

Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the government was left with no choice but to reintroduce killing elephants "as a last option and under very strict conditions" to reduce environmental degradation and rising conflicts with humans.

There will be no "wholesale slaughter," he told reporters.

The announcement follows months of impassioned debate, with some conservationists arguing for elephant killings to protect the ecosystem, and animal welfare groups outraged at the prospect of slaughtering one of the planet's most intelligent and self-aware creatures.

South Africa has been hugely successful in protecting its elephant population, once on the verge of extinction in parts of the country. But it has become a victim of its own success. The number of elephants, which have no natural predators other than humans, is growing at a rate of more than 5 percent a year and is expected to double by 2020.

The decades of the big white hunter in the 1800s brought Africa's elephants near to extinction. South Africa had just 200 elephants at the beginning of the 20th century.

Now South Africa, Namibia and Botswana all have booming populations as a result of their conservation efforts, while those of east and west African nations are struggling because of large-scale poaching.

South Africa has about 18,000 elephants and southern Africa is home to about 300,000 — half of all the elephants on the continent.

Elephants can turn woodlands to grass and stubs in a matter of years. They need to roam widely to get their daily diet of about 660 pounds of grass, leaves and twigs and up to 52 gallons of water. And they increasingly clash with people.

"Our simple reality is that elephant population density has risen so much in some southern African countries that there is concern about impacts on the landscape, the viability of other species and the livelihoods and safety of people living within elephant ranges," van Schalkwyk said.

South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, which has 165,000 elephants — more than any other country — all used to kill elephants before international outrage forced an end to the scenes of game rangers rounding up and shooting trumpeting, frightened herds.

South Africa remains fearful of upsetting tourists who flock to see the Big Five animals — elephant, lion, rhino, leopard and buffalo.

Van Schalkwyk said the debate was marked by "strong emotions."

"There are few other creatures on earth that have the ability of elephants to 'connect' with humans in a very special way," he said.

Michele Pickover, a spokeswoman for Animal Rights Africa, which is threatening to promote tourist boycotts, said killing elephants was "undeniably cruel and morally reprehensible."

She said South Africa does not have too many elephants and that the decision by the government posed a threat to the elephant population in southern Africa.

"South Africa has opened the door to en masse killing of elephants," she said.

But the World Wildlife Fund cautiously welcomed the government's move.

"They are doing the responsible thing," said Rob Little, acting chief executive of WWF South Africa. "It is the right choice to have culling as an option but with strong provisos."

South Africa's new regulations on managing elephants, effective May 1, say killing must be through "quick and humane methods," preferably by a single lethal shot to the brain by a marksman in a helicopter.

Van Schalkwyk did not specify how many elephants could be killed or when, except to say that figures of 2,000 to 10,000 being suggested by animal rights groups were "hugely inflated."

Little said neighboring countries were "watching us for guidance" and that he did expect others to follow South Africa's example.

"We all love elephants, no one wants to kill them but we don't have the luxury for one species to dominate," he said.

Bob Scholes, who headed an assessment of elephant management leading up to the rule change, said it was "quite likely" that other countries would follow South Africa's lead and use killing to control elephant populations, even eventually in East Africa, once the numbers there, which have stabilized, begin to increase.

"I see little alternative to doing so," he said.

Scholes said elephants brought South Africa $2.42 billion a year from tourism and $148 million in ivory, hunting and sales.

"Elephants are worth much more alive than dead," he said.

Van Schalkwyk also announced that the government is prohibiting the capture of wild elephants for commercial purposes — a move likely to draw fire from a fast-growing industry in elephant-back safaris.

In addition, he said, the government is drawing up regulations to govern treatment of the country's 120 captive elephants. Van Schalkwyk said his department had received "numerous complaints" about cruel training practices including the use of electric prodders.

South Africa said that overall it was trying to manage the needs of elephants with those of people, killing some of the wild animals humanely while eliminating the unnecessary and sometimes cruel treatment of tamed elephants.

Link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...9S87.DTL&tsp=1

[TheMercenary]

Sad. I wonder if they can save the meat and feed it to the poor.

[shina]

Great, another free for all. That is heartbreaking.

[TheMercenary]

The article specifically says it is not a "free for all".

[lumberjim]

i think maybe she meant a free for all of blubbering and overreacting?

[Cloud]

a no-win situation.

[TheMercenary]

After listening to this on Sunday, it really is more sad:

Whale Songs and Elephant Loves
By Katy Payne

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.o...gs/index.shtml

Do something, contact the humane society or peta or anyone that you think can help. Congress if they are not to busy with baseball.

We are constantly hearing how we have to help these people with Food and Aids.

I think we can help the Elephants too.

[TheMercenary]

Screw PETA, they are a domestic terrorist organization.

[TheMercenary]

And then there is this:

http://mtd.com/tasty/

[glatt]

I like elephants too, but if the ecosystem there can't support them, what are they supposed to do with them? Would it be better to put them all in cages in cities around the world so we can all gawk at them while they shuffle back and forth on their feet in their cells?

I don't know much about this issue, so I have to trust that the international conservation organization known as the World Wildlife Fund knows what they are talking about when they say that this is OK.

From the article:

But the World Wildlife Fund cautiously welcomed the government's move.

"They are doing the responsible thing," said Rob Little, acting chief executive of WWF South Africa. "It is the right choice to have culling as an option but with strong provisos."

[lookout123]

what Glatt said. I thought it first but he writes more goodly than me.

[Aliantha]

The only other option I can imagine is relocating the animals, keeping in mind that they're wild and weight tons and tons. No small task.

[lookout123]

How cool is this? Now I have two reasons to go to Africa. The 2010 World Cup and Elephant killing. Of course, I don't hunt and I think elephants are cool, so I wouldn't want to do that. But I can just see it now, a group of London hooligans buy their tickets for the 2010 World Cup, only to find out the 3 Lions failed to make it past the first round. There will be some drunken Englishman and dead elephants.

On a serious note, if the herds are growing too large for the environment because they have been protected for some time, it seems reasonable, if sad, that the herd should be culled. Why is this a problem?

[DanaC]

We are constantly hearing how we have to help these people with Food and Aids.

What, in South Africa? are you sure about that? I wasn;t aware South Africa received food aid. Other parts of Africa maybe, but South Africa?