Addo elephants kept out to manage veld

IN response to Ben Venter’s letter in Tuesday’s paper (“Shocking waterhole experience”), we as Addo Elephant National Park issued the attached media release to the national media in May.

Subsequently, The Herald, among many media houses, picked up on the story (“Control plan for thirsty jumbos”, May 18).

I would like to reiterate what we stated in May [the statement is shortened – The editor]:

South African national parks are managed as natural systems in which conservationists try as best as possible to mimic natural processes.

Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) is managed with a natural gradient of water in place.

Nowhere in a natural system would one find waterholes dispersed evenly across the landscape.

Nature has a way of avoiding this at all costs to prevent the homogenous use of vegetation which ultimately will lead to the extinction or degrading of species.

Take a look at Hapoor, for example, if one wants to see what could potentially happen at waterholes if limitless water is provided.

The habitat is altered significantly, and we have to try and avoid the same happening around all water points.

If AENP is to be sustainable into the future, we have to try and mimic nature as closely as possible.

AENP’s unnatural river is represented by Hapoor, Spekboom, Ghwari, Woodlands, Nyathi and Domkrag, where large amounts of water are provided. The remaining waterholes in the park are not in place to quench elephant water needs, but rather to meet the needs of other species.

In this way elephants are forced to not homogenously use the landscape.

In times when there are good rains elephants will be found across the landscape when all pans and dams have water. During drier periods, elephants move back to the main water sources, thus protecting the Colchester thicket from being overbrowsed during dry periods.

The waterholes in the Colchester section are purposefully limited in number as well as the quantity of water available.

It should also be kept in mind that stress is part of nature.

Drought times are supposed to induce stress which affects the elephants’ inter-calving intervals.

Conservationists need to mimic this or else our elephants will keep a growth rate up of between 7% and 9% per annum.

This is not a sustainable model and the very elephants we are trying to protect will become the biggest threat to our precious national park.

Currently AENP is experimenting with elephant exclusion water points outside of the public eye.

With this in mind, we have erected these exclusions around Lismore and Peasland, hoping that the general, loyal visitor will understand.

An electric strand is suspended at 2m in height and has vertical 1m strands hanging off the main strand.

These strands are electrified to stop elephants from walking in, who will soon realise that water point is not available to them and proceed to areas with water that is able to sustain them.

Other game is then able to use those water points without having to compete with elephants.

Some may think this is cruel, but the alternative requires the reduction in elephant densities.

Fayroush Ludick, regional communications manager, South African National Parks (SAN Parks)