BIZARRE INTERNET TREND
SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
English broadcaster and natural historian
ABOUT two weeks into the national lockdown, a group of men with hunting dogs were spotted in the Pilanesberg National Park.
Unknowingly, they triggered a camera trap and the reserve’s staff pounced. “When they saw the heat was on them, they escaped,” says ecologist Piet Nel of the North West Parks and Tourism Board.
This type of incursion, he said, had not been reported for more than a decade in the park. But as economic woes deepen under the Covid-19 lockdown, Nel, and conservation officials in the North West, who are already battling rhino poachers, are bracing for more such incidents.
“At other reserves there’s been a slight increase in meat poaching, especially towards the east of the province,” says Nel, who tells of how illegal fish harvesting in some of the provincial dams has spiked, too.
“I’m not sure how this is all going to unfold in the next months but we’re preparing for meat poaching and even petty theft in the parks. People are very desperate. If you’ve got a family to feed and you’ve got absolutely nothing, at some stage you are going to revert to crime.”
Across Africa, wildlife protection and conservation efforts are often funded by tourism income but Covid19 lockdowns have led to a halt in tourism and wildlife reserves are facing serious budget shortfalls, says the International Rhino Foundation.
Communities near reserves are dependent on tourism for jobs within reserves or for opportunities created outside of them. “The lockdowns have especially affected the poorest of the poor and the small, informal economies within community areas. Hungry and desperate communities along the boundaries may turn to bushmeat poaching,” it says.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that bushmeat harvesting is on the rise, says Andrew Campbell, the chief executive of the Game Rangers Association of Africa.
“There seems to be a perception that bushmeat poaching is starting to creep up in some areas, while other places have not seen it .... People who are unemployed don’t have the economic capacity to provide food and resources to those that depend on them.
“The bigger problem is what happens in three, six or 12 months from here, because it (unemployment) won’t turn around quickly. It’s not just the tourism problem. It’s the overall economic impact on these communities and reserves are under pressure to deliver tangible benefits to neighbouring communities but unfortunately, very few of them have got that right.”
Dr Andrew Taylor, of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s wildlife in trade programme, says there might be an increase in bushmeat poaching.
“The massive drop in tourism income will lead to job losses, which will lead to more people being hungry and seeking illegal and unsustainable sources of food. If those job losses include anti-poaching teams, then there will be fewer law enforcement personnel patrolling reserves.
“This is speculation but I think it is a logical sequence of events, and is a good reason to promote sustainable sources of game meat,” Taylor says. “I’ve also been told, however, that some places have been very quiet on the poaching front over the lockdown, although this could be temporary.”
The rise in unemployment and associated social challenges caused by the lockdown will “no doubt drive hungry and desperate people to look at wild and domestic animals as sources of food”, says Matthew Norval, the chief operations officer: conservation at Wilderness Foundation Africa.
“While this is sometimes understandable and some would argue have a negligible impact on wildlife populations, the cumulative impact is substantial.”
Wild animals outside protected areas will be “exploited the most” as well as reserves that don’t have the necessary security and access-control measures in place.
“Unfortunately the illegal hunting of wildlife was widespread before the lockdown and is no longer only carried out by people trying to feed their families.
“The trade in wildlife meat and products such as pelts and body parts used in the traditional medicine market, has become increasingly more organised, with potentially devastating impacts especially on species already compromised by loss of habitat and low numbers that reduce breeding ability.”
While rhino and elephant poaching receives significant attention and funding, the illegal killing of and trade in other wildlife is part of the same problem.
“Many people are not even aware of a flourishing illegal trade in plants and smaller creatures from spiders to snakes, lizards and even beetles. This is all part of the same problem that sees the exploitation of the countries’ natural heritage to such an extent that it will result in certain species disappearing.”
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Reserves are under pressure to deliver tangible benefits...
Andrew Campbell
GAME RANGERS ASSOCIATION OF AFRICA.
ICYMI
| IOL.CO.ZA
into a lucrative enterprise that requires international networks to realise the profits.
“To feed the demand, low-level criminals involved in local trade of meat, wildlife products, live specimens and even plants can be employed to gather material that is no longer being used to feed or fund hungry families, but now enters the realm of international trade with murky relationships with other illegal activities.”
It is very likely, says Norval, that unscrupulous middlemen will increasingly take advantage of people with limited options and thereby gain access to this illegal material.
Campbell says small-scale subsistence hunting for bushmeat has been happening “forever”. “It is a problem when it’s done unsustainably and when that goes to the commercial level, obviously the impact is huge .... Certainly by placing 50 to a couple of hundred snares, you’re not aiming to catch one animal – you can decimate a herd of impala or anything that walks through. It’s indiscriminate. Dog hunting is also done as a sport, with betting involved, so it’s not always about filling a stomach.”
The issue is complex, says Norval. “Solutions lie in a combination of improved law enforcement, reduction in demand for illegal products, awareness campaigns and importantly, working with people that live close to wildlife so that whatever benefits are possible can be realised.”