Hunting: In Namibia, The Trophies That Create Discord

[Solitaire]

Self proclaimed sanctuary of so-called ethical hunting with Botswana, this country in southwest Africa is the only one on the continent where a hunter can (legally) obtain permits to hunt the famous "big five": Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhinoc & ros and Cape Buffalo. Such a project would require several months of stay and more than € 250,000 at a very low cost for an individual who would manage to obtain all 5 tags at once ... These tags, very rare for certain species such as Elephants or Leopards, can go to auction and see their price soar. Erik has already hunted a lion and a Cape Buffalo. For this trip, he put aside his dream of an elephant hunt to focus on the game of the plains. For just over $ 8,000, Phillip Hennings grants him the right to hunt 10 animals on his 8,000-hectare property. The type of hunting offered by this reserve is open range, namely, land which is limited only by cattle fences that zebras, greater kudus ... can easily cross freely. "There too, the hypocrisy of anti-hunting people! All this little world becomes hysterical in front of the photo of Walter Palmer and Cécil the lion, but nobody cares about a photo with a wildebeest", asserts the hunter, who poses for a souvenir photo next to the remains of his prey.

Of the value of an animal
Plains game represents the overwhelming majority of legal hunts in Africa, but it arouses much less indignation in the West. Because, in truth, the pro and anti hunting have one point in common: The two camps prioritize in one way or another the value of animals. The skin of an Elephant always provokes more emotion in the Western public than that of a wildebeest; and the hunter places more value on a Greater Kudu (approx. € 1,500) than a zebra (approx. € 800) or a Sable antelope (approx. € 5,350). Some animals are therefore, in the opinion of both camps, more equal than the others.These sums, sometimes staggering, allow the SCIF (the most powerful of the American pro hunting lobbies) to claim that the hunting economy represents in total $ 436 million in East and Southern Africa. In a counter study HSI estimates this figure at 132 million.

Our 4x4 passes through the doors of Philip's farm. Hedrick and Charlie, another tracker, jump to the ground and unload the remains of the black wildebeest while a member of staff brings Erik a cold beer to celebrate the good hunt. Then begins the butchering of the animal under the gaze of two rhodesian ridgeback dogs salivating at the sight of fresh flesh. While the skin, skull and horns are kept apart in a room where they will be coated with salt to preserve them, all the meat is meticulously removed. “All of the meat is for our employees and their families,” says Phillip, “we employ around 20 people who live on the reserve with their loved ones. This represents around 60 individuals” If Phillip and his employees hunt themselves a zebra for food, the value of the meat they remove represents more or less 250 €. If Erik or another customer hunts the same creature, its value is multiplied by five ... and produces the same amount of food.

 

[Solitaire]

Private and inhabited reserves, like Philip's, there are nearly a hundred in Nambia. They testify to the qualities of this model where the fauna subsists while including men in protected lands. The black wildebeest that Erik hunted, for example, is classified as "Least Concern" by the IUCN and is exogenous to Naibia. It was successfully introduced there for the sole purpose of filling the game reserves. Putting a price on the head of an animal is therefore not a simple consumerist logic: it motivates local populations to protect this fauna too often synonymous, for them, with desolation and death. From tanzania to Namibia, from the DRC to South Africa, the men and women neighboring this fauna know that the lion is not a big cat that you hug. The lion and the leopard kill and tear off arms: the elephant and the rhiniceros trample the crops.

The scandal of Cécil the Lion
As the sun sets over Phillip's lodge, the skinners are busy with the last takes of the day, we listen to the broadcast of a program dedicated to the 5 years since the death of Cecil the lion. to a representative of an ocdental NGO, Maxi Pia Louis, director of NASCO, a Namibian association which works on collaboration between local communities and the responsible exploitation of the country's natural resources fulminates "When I learned of Cecil's mrt , I thought at first it was a human being, she recalls. We who live in Africa, we do not give names to the wild fan. He is wild. They are not animals of company "and to continue" We did not have a chance to express ourselves at the time and I was very angry at the reactions of the Western public. For them, Africans are just there to watch the wildlife. It is offensive to the rural populations who are sufficient to us the days of this fauna. So why should they protect these animals if they cannot benefit from it?" The question echoes above the crackle of the fire around which we are gathered. The smell of kudu steaks grilling under the starry sky reaches our nostrils when this sentence, again from Gary, resurfaces: "The idea of the beauty of the elephant, of the nobility of the elephant, c 'was the idea of a satiated man ". Let us add, 65 years later : and that of the sympathy of the lion, that of a city man !
Cross the African continent, nature reserves and parks have been left financially drained by the COVID-19 crisis. Poaching acts have multiplied, committed by poulations having lost their fill linked to the tourism sector and no longer having the motivation to protect a food source fauna.

 

[Solitaire]

Help the conservation effort
In this critical situation, encumbering the debate on the hunt with peremptory formulas of a city-dweller and satisfied, appears to be a risky gamble in the long term. Last February, a scientific study devoted to the effects of trophy hunting and published on One Earth by a dozen researchers highlighted the lack of precise data on the redistribution of funds in the local economy. And it is precisely on these points that the debate should focus. The economic argument being the spearhead of pro hunters and lobbies like the very influential SCI, the first battle should be to strengthen the institutions in charge of controlling and monitoring the money generated by this industry. ; Institutions often atrophied by corruption and lack of resources.
If trophy hunting cannot and must not be the only model of reflection for investing in the conservation of species, it would be ill advised to do without it altogether. Because conservation in Africa as elsewhere has a price. Already estimated at nearly 2 billion per year, it continues to increase under the pressure of urbanization and galloping demography. The hunters seem ready to pay it. In the future, and as donations wither away, who will pay the rest? And above all how ?
Vincent JOLLY

 

[mark-hunter]

Self proclaimed sanctuary of so-called ethical hunting with Botswana, this country in southwest Africa is the only one on the continent where a hunter can (legally) obtain permits to hunt the famous "big five": Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhinoc & ros and Cape Buffalo.

Is it really true that in Botswana is possible to legally hunt rhino?
Till now, I thought that this is possible only in Namibia and South Africa?

 

[Scott CWO]

Trying to help people understand.

As I discussed in my hunt report, Le Figaro magazine was with us as part of a larger story in Namibia. Attached is the link to a piece of that story. Perhaps @AfricaHunting.com could translate the first half if he has time. The article hits the stands in the morning, May 28, 2021, in the Figaro Magazine and the entire interview will be used for various things as well as in Le Figaro live.

The English interview starts at one minute into the video.

Chasse: en Namibie, les trophées de la discorde

Barbarie pour les uns, tradition pour les autres : la chasse aux trophées déchaîne les passions et embrase les réseaux sociaux. Nous avons pu suivre un chasseur américain lors d’un safari en Namibie. Pour comprendre ses motivations et savoir si cette pratique pouvait jouer un rôle dans la...

video.lefigaro.fr

French:
Chasse: en Namibie, les trophées de la discorde
Barbarie pour les uns, tradition pour les autres : la chasse aux trophées déchaîne les passions et embrase les réseaux sociaux. Nous avons pu suivre un chasseur américain lors d’un safari en Namibie. Pour comprendre ses motivations et savoir si cette pratique pouvait jouer un rôle dans la conservation en Afrique.

Translation into English:
Hunting: In Namibia, The Trophies That Create Discord
Barbarism for some, tradition for others: trophy hunting unleashes passions and sets social networks ablaze. We were able to follow an American hunter on a safari in Namibia. To understand his motivations and find out if this practice could play a role in conservation in Africa.

View attachment 404046

Congrats Erik on the hunt as well as the article. There are always pros and cons to participating with journalists about subjects like hunting. Many people are naive and believe that reporters just report. In my experience, most of them are trying to create a controversy, not report. In this case, it seems the pros and what was written outweigh the cons. Congrats again.