After Namibia announces, I guess now it's Zimbabwe's turn

[Puddle]

Zimbabwe to cull 200 elephants

 

[375Fox]

Thread 'Zim orders cull of 200 elephants'

Sep 14, 2024

Zimbabwe orders cull of 200 elephants amid food shortages from drought

Environment minister says country has more elephants than it needs while critics of hunt say they are a major tourist drawcard

amp.theguardian.com

• Shooter375
• Replies: 33
• Forum: News & announcements

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[30.06king]

200 Elephants culled won't even be noticeable from Zim's overall population. In some areas of Zim a higher take than that is easily justifiable and should be sustained as otherwise numbers will easily and quickly increase again.
Typically, the animal rights zealots are so blinded by ideology they wont see the desperation of starving people suyffering a severe drought. To them it wouldn't matter if people died hungry so long as Elephants are safe.
And, if the drought continues even Elephant will die of starvation and lack of water, along with other game. It's happened before in Zim. Culling a few surplus Elephant likely would be the right move for both hungry people and Elephant.

 

[375Fox]

200 Elephants culled won't even be noticeable from Zim's overall population. In some areas of Zim a higher take than that is easily justifiable and should be sustained as otherwise numbers will easily and quickly increase again.
Typically, the animal rights zealots are so blinded by ideology they wont see the desperation of starving people suyffering a severe drought. To them it wouldn't matter if people died hungry so long as Elephants are safe.
And, if the drought continues even Elephant will die of starvation and lack of water, along with other game. It's happened before in Zim. Culling a few surplus Elephant likely would be the right move for both hungry people and Elephant.

It will be very noticeable if they decide to cull big bodied middle aged bulls instead of cows. I hope they do it properly but I have my doubts. It takes a long time for an elephant bull to get old to add value for trophy hunts.

 

[30.06king]

It will be very noticeable if they decide to cull big bodied middle aged bulls instead of cows. I hope they do it properly but I have my doubts. It takes a long time for an elephant bull to get old to add value for trophy hunts.

If every Elephant culled was a big bull, middle aged and up, I agree it would be a negative, but possibly not ( too ) damaging to the overall population. I guess anything is possible but would imagine targeting only bulls is unlikely ... ? I would think the most efficient, expedient approach would be culling of family groups comprising mature cows, sub adult cows and with calves included ... ?? I might be wrong here but think such groups are more likely encountered than bulls when hunting Elephant, at least based on my own observations and assume that targeting female groups is probably a likely check in reproductive recovery which could help if the drought persists.
Anyway, just my 2c for what it's worth. I'm no expert. I'm willing to give Zim parks the benefit of the doubt on this as I know this could be done right if properly planned. Yes, they are often completely hopeless in many management matters but every now and then somehow manage to do the right thing. Fingers crossed.

 

[375Fox]

If every Elephant culled was a big bull, middle aged and up, I agree it would be a negative, but possibly not ( too ) damaging to the overall population. I guess anything is possible but would imagine targeting only bulls is unlikely ... ? I would think the most efficient, expedient approach would be culling of family groups comprising mature cows, sub adult cows and with calves included ... ?? I might be wrong here but think such groups are more likely encountered than bulls when hunting Elephant, at least based on my own observations and assume that targeting female groups is probably a likely check in reproductive recovery which could help if the drought persists.
Anyway, just my 2c worth for what it's worth. I'm no expert. I'm willing to give Zim parks the benefit of the doubt on this as I know this could be done right if properly planned. Yes, they are often completely hopeless in many management matters but every now and then somehow manage to do the right thing. Fingers crossed.

Without saying too much publicly if Parks record on PAC/ration work is any precedent I have serious doubts they will target cows (with much less meat) in many areas. I don’t see old school culling ever returning. The will and knowledge isn’t there anymore. I hope it’s at least partially left to the PHs so it’s done properly.

 

[30.06king]

Without saying too much publicly if Parks record on PAC/ration work is any precedent I have serious doubts they will target cows (with much less meat) in many areas. I don’t see old school culling ever returning. The will and knowledge isn’t there anymore. I hope it’s at least partially left to the PHs so it’s done properly.

I don't have sufficient insight or expertise to either counter your comments or conversely suggest a likely scenario. But you may well be right in what you say regarding Zim Parks track record, and I'll leave it there. I agree though that if PHs are involved to a greater degree then culling would be conducted within proper management practises, and hope this is the case.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Good for them. Take the meat a feed some people with it.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

All the governments helping the people with this increase in quota are really dumb in how they are doing it.
They should give substantial quotas to the concesión holders(Outfitters/PH) at the beginning of the year thereby allowing those people to sell hunts that also generate income for the country and will get used. All of these last minute deals are difficult to fill with such short notice.

HH