PH and US Leopard hunter in Namibia arrested

[JamesJ]

Just got off the phone with one of my outfitters in Namibia, a PH and an American hunter have been arrested. The outfitter was conducting an illegal hunt with dogs on a farm in Namibia, the parks department found out about it and they were both arrested. Outfitter and clients are currently in jail in Windhoek. Their names have not been released yet. If I get any additional information, I will gladly post it.

Just passing this information along, hound hunting for leopard is illegal and the parks department is cracking down on these operators. Please use caution when booking your leopard hunt as there are still several outfitter using these methods for taking cats. While I have no personal experience of Namibian jail, I doubt its a great experience.

 

[buchnerl]

That is a very unfortunate event for both parties - however more for the client than the PH. @James Jeffrey - HuntingAgent.com do you know if it was an SA PH or an NA PH?

 

[UKHunter]

Damn.

Its sad there are still these idiots out there giving us all bad press. You would have thought people would have learnt from the Cecil incident.

 

[JamesJ]

@Tootabi Hunting Safaris, i am only assuming its a Namibian PH, since they closed dog hunting a few years ago it can be difficult for PH's from other countries to get tags. The other downside to this is the unnecessary focus on leopard hunting as well as an increase in cost for permits in 2016 and beyond.

 

[thi9elsp]

I'm glad the authorities are enforcing the law. These incidents are putting even more importance on Jame's comments on who you book with.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I look forward to the details.

 

[Aaron N]

Anyone heard from johnnyblues?!

 

[Royal27]

Anyone heard from johnnyblues?!

Yes!

He is hunting, and not in jail.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Here is some information/regulations regarding Leopard hunting in Namibia:

- Official Leopard & Cheetah Hunting Announcement by NAPHA: http://www.africahunting.com/threads/official-leopard-cheetah-hunting-announcement-by-napha.2048/
- Leopard tags in Namibia: http://www.africahunting.com/threads/leopard-tags-in-namibia.7862/
- Permit Conditions for Trophy Hunting of Lion, Leopard & Cheetah in Namibia: http://www.africahunting.com/thread...ing-of-lion-leopard-cheetah-in-namibia.15165/


Since these regulations came out, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) has added a few more requirements… A SCHEDULE G / RECORD SHEET (Regulations 114C (0)) needs to be completed, amongst the information required are the Leopard’s skull measurements as well as the GPS co-ordinates. Also if the photos of the Leopard are taken at night, MET now requests that the PH writes an "Explanation Letter", which is needed along with the Export Application. MET also needs a copy of the Passport of the hunter as well as a copy of his Visa entry, to make certain that the timing coincides.

 

[Wheels]

Thanks for the info James.

Important to book with reputable people.

Hopefully this doesn't make world news like cecil.

It will be interesting to see where the dog man is from. In the days when dog hunting was legal, it seems most of the dog men were from outside Namibia.

 

[WildRose]

Sad to see. I don't want to be in jail anywhere but being jailed in Africa is something I would avoid at any cost.

What worries me about these types of incidents is wondering if the hunters even had a clue that what they were doing was illegal. If we are to believe what he's saying the Dentist who shot Cecil had no idea what he was doing was illegal.

I know here in the US with my own customers they simply trust me to keep them legal and when hunting in another country I wouldn't even know where to start looking to find all of the game regulations for that country so trust has to be absolute.

The worst thing about these incidents is that they make all of us Americans look bad and will cause the authorities to give us extra scrutiny in the future.

 

[thi9elsp]

Sad to see. I don't want to be in jail anywhere but being jailed in Africa is something I would avoid at any cost.

What worries me about these types of incidents is wondering if the hunters even had a clue that what they were doing was illegal. If we are to believe what he's saying the Dentist who shot Cecil had no idea what he was doing was illegal.

I know here in the US with my own customers they simply trust me to keep them legal and when hunting in another country I wouldn't even know where to start looking to find all of the game regulations for that country so trust has to be absolute.

The worst thing about these incidents is that they make all of us Americans look bad and will cause the authorities to give us extra scrutiny in the future.

As a hunter, you are spot I - I put my full trust in the outfitter and guide. I try to do a reasonable amount of research and follow my gut in the field. I've been fortunate in the US as my brother is a retired USFWS field agent. With his connections, I've been able to vet out operations in Alaska and Wyoming which all turned out very well.

 

[James.Grage]

It will be interesting to see what becomes of these alleged charges, to see if they are true or not.

I cannot find this on the internet doing a search...

I think after the Cecil the Lion incident, to make a informed statement, we need to know more information.

With out knowledge and information on the incident from a reliable source, for a person to make a comment early is many times jumping the gun and being foolish.

 

[CAustin]

Sad +1

 

[sierraone]

The positive part of this story as we know it so far, was that a cat had not yet been taken. They were only conducting an illegal hunt. It happens often in the U.S. also, but usually a professional hunter is not involved and mostly only makes news in the local area when an arrest is made by the local game and fish agency. The bottom line in my view though is that the hunter has to know the law pertaining to what he is hunting and where he is hunting it. I know that we pay people to know these things particularly in other countries to keep us out of trouble, but it appears that is not good enough. From what previous posters have said was that using dogs to cat hunt has been outlawed in Namibia for several years. If we as hunters put ourselves in these situations unknowingly, then shame on us. Pay the piper and move on!

Looking forward to hearing the final story, good or bad!

 

[JamesJ]

As traveling hunters we put our trust in the PH's and outfitters we hunt with. But the onus falls on the hunter as well to make sure he/she is following the law. We need to police ourselves and our industry or those in power will put an end to hunting.

 

[enysse]

Damn risky to use dogs, well it's illegal anyway. Greed to get a leopard.

 

[James.Grage]

James... any update on this?

I am unable to find anything on this in the Namibia papers or internet search... Only thing that shows up using a google search is this forum posting...

 

[JamesJ]

Sorry no update as yet, this came from one of my outfitters. As soon as i get an update I'll post it.

 

[ctulpa]

Unfortunate to hear this news. But please do not throw the hunter or PH under the bus until actual knowledge of the facts are known.
While it is true that Namibia does not allow trophy hunts for leopards with dogs, Namibia does allow the use of dogs for problem leopards.
It is possible that the hunter was there to hunt a leopard without dogs and a problem leopard issue arose to allow the use of dogs.
So we need to know the facts. To just say using dogs is illegal in Namibia is not true.
If a problem leopard was taken using dogs by an America hunter, the PH could get permits for export if all other aspects were legal, such as location of kill.

So lets get the facts first before saying they did anything illegal.