Within 10 years ‘most trophy elephant bulls will be dead’

WHILE Africa is losing an elephant every 15 minutes to ivory poachers, trophy hunters are targeting the cross-border population of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GMTFCA) to the extent that scientists predict trophy bulls will be all but gone in a mere 10 years’ time.

The region's hunting quotas, which are too high to sustain according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of KwaZulu Natal, are also having a negative impact on the movement, dynamics and social structures of the elephants.

The conservation area encompasses the common boundaries between Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa and has at its centre the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers which form natural borders between the neighbouring states. Declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2003, this area includes protected areas such as the Mapungubwe National Park and Botswana’s Northern Tuli Game Reserve. It is also home to numerous hunting concessions.

The research team of Sarah-Anne Jeanetta Selier, Bruce Page, Abi Tamim Vanak and Rob Slotow began their case study in 1999 and used population viability analysis software, distribution data from six aerial surveys and data from hunting operations in each country to determine that at current levels, trophy hunting of elephant in the GMTFCA is unsustainable.

“Hunting of trophy bulls had a direct effect in reducing overall bull numbers,” says Selier. A trophy bull is a male elephant over the age of 35 years. The older bulls, between 40 and 50 years of age, are the dominant breeders. By targeting these animals, hunters are removing the breeding bulls, which will have a major negative impact on the overall population.”

The study also found that high levels of hunting of bulls caused a disturbance effect within breeding herds, with exacerbated stress levels observed throughout the population. This disturbance has major ramifications for a region where both consumptive and non-consumptive use is made of elephants, with hunting concessions sitting alongside eco and photographic tourism destinations.

Excessive hunting invariably has a negative impact on tourism. During the course of the study, between 1999 and 2010, anywhere from two to 43 elephant were hunted annually from the GMTFCA population. And although from 2006 a zero hunting quota was set for elephants in South Africa, 18 elephants were shot between 2006 and 2010 as “problem animals.” Eleven of these were mature breeding bulls hunted by paying clients.

For the 2010 hunting season, the last monitored by the study, 40 bulls older than 35 years were killed within Botswana and Zimbabwe, more than four times the quota identified and recommended by the study.

Botswana has banned trophy hunting since the study was completed because its government does not believe it adds any value to conservation, however hunting is still prevalent within the GMTFCA as both Zimbabwe and South Africa have policies of sustainable utilisation.

“It’s our recommendation that the quota system is revised as a matter of urgency and that a single, cross-border management authority be established to regulate hunting,” says Selier.

It is also pertinent to ascertain the circumstances in which South African authorities identify and target “problem elephants” where no hunting quotas have been set.

The aim of allocating hunting permits for problem animals is to deter elephants from entering communal areas and to compensate local communities for damage to crops and property to improve tolerance towards elephants. The study shows hunting bull elephants is not an effective deterrent as elephants return to the region within a year of the hunt.

“Throughout the period of our study there was no single approach to hunting quotas within the GMTFCA. Each country involved in the TFCA had its own method of calculating quotas and none was based on the actual biological population or took into account its various dynamics and movement patterns,” says Selier.

One of the common problems in the administration of the TFCA model is that there is no single management plan in effect, but rather three different and often opposing plans for each state involved.

“Signatories to TFCAs need to adopt a more hands-on approach to the management of cross-border wildlife populations, especially elephants. Management plans need to be made to fit budgets and there needs to be monitoring of the implementation of these plans to ensure compliance,” Selier said.

“Elephants notoriously move away from areas where they are being hunted, which will then place more ecological pressure on the areas they move to.”

“We need to work together to find ways to make the utilisation of natural resources more responsible. We also need to find creative ways to keep each stakeholder in a TFCA involved in its overall management, and responsible for it.

“The current quotas are neither sustainable nor responsible, and this needs to change quickly, before it’s too late.”

Van Wyk is a freelance environment writer. This article was produced with the support of the Conservation Action Trust.