‘Zim elephant hunt can have positive spin-offs’

There is nothing controversial or sinister about a recent announcement by the Zimbabwean government that 500 elephants in the country are being made available for hunting in 2021.

This was according to ecologist Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, operations and stewardship manager at CropLife South Africa, and a hunter himself.

He told Farmer’s Weekly that the country allowed elephant hunting, mainly of tuskless female elephants, every year.

Zimbabwe had a very large elephant population of

84 000, the second-largest in the world, which far exceeded the country’s carrying capacity. “Recurrent droughts have added to the strain of overburdened national parks, forcing the elephants to seek food and water further afield. The culling of 500 elephants will not harm the population, and by hunting tuskless animals, the tuskless gene balance in the population will be corrected,” Verdoorn said.

He added that the relatively large numbers of tuskless elephants, and cows in particular, could be ascribed to overhunting and poaching in the past. Tusked animals were so fiercely hunted that an opportunity was created for tuskless genes to increase significantly. By limiting the number of tuskless animals, the number of tusked animals was set to increase markedly over the next few years.

The hunting season, which takes place in winter, would resume this year in Zimbabwe after hunting in the country came to a standstill in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“An added bonus is that the meat is distributed to the protein-starved local populace. The hunting also creates much-needed revenue for the country,” Verdoorn said.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Tinashe Farawo told Africanews.com that elephant hunting was allowed during the country’s April to October rainy season.

According to him, the revenues from hunting would be particularly important this year due to the economic setbacks caused by the pandemic.

“We [received] the authority to hunt a maximum of 500 elephants, and a single elephant hunt could earn as much as US$70 000 [about R1 million],” he explained.

He noted that additional income streams were also created by hunters who required assisting personnel such as trackers, protective hunters, and chefs.