More on Zambia elephant sport hunting...

At a meeting between the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and safari hunting operators on 23 February, 2007, ZAWA stated that they wished to make changes to the Statutory Instrument No. 40 of 2005 (The Zambian Wildlife (Elephant) (Sport Hunting) Regulations, 2005) so that parts of elephant - other than their tusks, could be exported. I pointed out that the Natural Resources Consultative Forum - supported at the time by the hunting industry, had advised that elephant should not be hunted in Zambia for a variety of reasons, and that this advice had been ignored in 2005 (9 killed) and in 2006 (15 killed), and now in 2007 it was expected that much of the quota of 20 animals would be killed. The Director-General, who had previously given his word to me that no elephant hunting permits would be issued without stakeholder consultations, said that more than 20 elephant a year needed to be killed so as to provide income for communities, and that the 100 or so animals shot to protect crops should be sport hunted so as to provide additional benefits. Doubtless this will require the Statutory Instrument to be altered i.e. section (2) (a) "The hunting of elephants for sport shall not include the hunting of elephant for purposes of controlling problem elephants."

Some operators - whom had previously supported the hunting ban, requested that they be allowed to hunt elephant in their areas, asking that CITES agree to increased offtakes, and that they be allowed to bring clients in as soon as crop raiding occurred. The fact that much of the crop raiding is carried out by non trophy bull elephant, and that it takes place in the rains when much of Zambia is impassable, escaped the meeting, as is the escalating wave of elephant poaching currently taking place in the country.