Leopard hunting banned
THE zero quota on leopard hunting has been extended by the Department of Environmental Affairs to this year.
This quota has been in place since January 2016 following an evidence-based decision by the Scientific Authority. This was after an alert was issued by the Scientific Authority that the number of leopards in the country was unknown and hunting them could be detrimental to the species’ survival.
Department of Environmental Affairs spokesperson Moses Rannditsheni said the decision was based on the review of available scientific information on the status and recovery of leopard populations in South Africa.
“The Scientific Authority recommended the minister extend the quota based on the information received and reviewed, with the possibility of introducing a precautionary hunting quota in 2018,” he said.
Rannditsheni said the Scientific Authority took into account input from the scientific steering committee for leopard monitoring comprising government institutions, NGOs, representatives of industry and academic institutions.
“Also taken into account were the results of systematic camera trap surveys undertaken in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga as well as relevant data from the industry obtained using Cat Spotter.
“Draft decisions from the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites CoP17) required all parties with leopard export quotas to review the leopard hunting quotas and provide a scientific basis for them.
“This Cites review process will continue in 2017 to ensure that an appropriate quota is allocated for the South African leopard population,” Rannditsheni said.
“The status of the norms and standards for leopard hunting, which are soon to be published for public comment, was also taken into consideration. The Scientific Authority has recommended in its proposed zero quota that a number of interventions should be implemented to ensure the sustainable utilisation of leopard populations.
“This included the development of norms and standards for the management and monitoring of leopard hunting as well as the extension of particularly systematic camera trap surveys to all provinces where leopard occur.”
However, the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa says it is deeply concerned about the decision and unintended consequences of the extension.
“To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no reliable scientific evidence to substantiate the zero quota for the second consecutive year,” Tharia Unwin, chief executive of the association, said.
The department’s statistics for 2015 showed a legal offtake of only 42, 37 and 36 leopards during 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively, she said.
“This is far less than the approved Cites and national quotas and speaks of good selective and sustainable hunting practices.
“Given the above, it’s our humble submission that the total number of leopards taken is probably less than 1% of the country’s leopard populations, if the latter is very conservatively estimated at 5 000 leopards,” Unwin said.
She emphasised that the legal offtake of leopard was not the problem. “On the contrary, without any legal offtake, there is no incentive for landowners to tolerate predators preying on small game or livestock and this results in indiscriminate poisoning, trapping and illegal shooting,” she said.
“The loss of leopards in the wild due to illegal offtake and poaching for cultural and religious ceremonies far outweighs the loss of foreign income derived from the historically low legal offtakes.”