Dear Friends of Amboseli
It has been a while since I last wrote to you about Amboseli and so much seems
to have happened in Kenya since then. I am sure like me, you have been deeply
saddened to see how the country has been suffering over the last month or so
following the election back in December. Long may the current calm of the past
few weeks last and the political agreement to the problems faced be long-lasting
and peaceful.
You will be very pleased to know that Amboseli National Park and the surrounding
area has been largely unaffected but just yesterday we heard that a date has now
been set for another court hearing regarding the Park status - Monday 14th July
2008. All the groups that have been working had to maintain the current status
of the Park will be reviewing the situation in the run up to the hearing.
While writing to you about Amboseli, I wanted to alert you to the situation
facing some of South Africa’s 20,000 elephants.
You may have seen in the international press over the last few days, that the
South African Environment Minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, has announced that
South Africa intends lifting the moratorium that was placed on the culling of
elephants in 1995. This is despite having been provided with detailed
information by many leading elephant experts indicating that not only is culling
unethical, unsound and biologically inconsistent but environmentally
ill-advised. It would seem that those advocates of killing elephants as a
population control-measure, have prevailed, at least for the moment. It seems
extraordinary that a country with over 1.2 m sq kms seems unable to accommodate
just 20,000 elephants when, by contrast, Kenya, a country less than half the
size, has just announced – with pride – that they have over 30,000 elephants.
The Minister said intense emotions from all stakeholders in the debate were part
of the process. He added he has personally experienced the sense of awe and
affection of the elephants when in close proximity to these giants of nature on
visits to South Africa’s Kruger National Park, amongst others.
Some aspects of the Minister’s statement do seem positive: “…. we have decided
to prohibit the capture of wild elephants except for purposes of relocation into
the wild. In the case of genuine orphans on private or communal land, they may
be relocated and reintroduced into the wild, or as a last resort, into bona fide
sanctuaries if they cannot be rehabilitated.” This is broadly to be welcome but
I would want to know exactly what Minister Van Schalkwyck means when he talks
about “bona fide sanctuaries”?
But the biggest issue is culling. A public comment period will be in place
until 1st May. There may still be an opportunity to see the policy change so
please let your voice be heard and write to Marthinus Van Schalkwyck, expressing
your views about South Africa’s announcement and intention to cull. He can be
contacted at ministry@deat.gov.za
There is still time for the authorities to consider the numerous other options
available to address localised elephant over-population where this can be proved
to be the case but another real worry, one which could have an impact on
elephants right across Africa and Asia, is that if culling goes ahead, South
Africa will rapidly gather yet more stockpiles of ivory (following the 30 tonne
sale approved at the last CITES Conference in June 2007) and will doubtless seek
further opportunities to trade. Poachers will target some of the world’s most
vulnerable wild elephant populations in an expectation that they will, quite
literally, make a killing in the not too distant future.
For further information, please do visit the Born Free website at
http://www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/elephants/campaign-action/elephant-cull/
As you can imagine, we will be doing everything we can to prevent more elephant
families suffering the trauma of a cull. Anyone having been unlucky enough to
witness a cull or have seen a film of a cull, will know that this cannot be
allowed to happen.
Many thanks
Will
Born Free Foundation
