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| File Photo:Timeslive-The Times 2012-12-13. Image by Daniel Born |
Issued by the Chairman, Tom
Hancock
Date: 21 February 2013
The Timbavati does not
support the idea of stopping an activity which is legal, sustainable,
scientific and professionally managed, supported by numerous
conservation-oriented NGOs and research institutions, and which brings in the
very revenue required to counter the uncontrolled and highly illegal scourge
that is rhino poaching. For the Timbavati to be financially sustainable and for
us to achieve our conservation aims and objectives we need sustainable sources
of revenue whether it is from limited hunting, photographic tourism other
sources.
Individual landowners do not
benefit financially from any hunting which takes place in the Reserve and are
prohibited from hunting commercially on their own properties. The Timbavati
Association is a not-for-profit conservation organization.
100% of the proceeds
generated from sustainable hunting activities in the Timbavati are utilized
exclusively for the conservation and protection of not only our rhino
population, but also the protection of all fauna and flora under our
custodianship.
Sustainable utilization of
our natural resources as practiced by the Timbavati is legal, well supported by
environmental legislation, government, and SANParks as well as by a large
number of reputable, relevant research institutions and conservation-based NGOs
[Research available on request]. Sustainable utilization of natural resources
by way of hunting is entrenched in the Policy for Buffer Zones to National
Parks.
The general consensus of the
scientific community and reputable conservation NGOs appears to be against an
outright ban on the hunting of cats and rhino. CITES states that rather than
trophy hunting having a negative impact on white rhino population,
"available information suggests the contrary".
The Timbavati supports the
findings of Endangered Wildlife Trust chief Yolan Friedman and Wilderness
Foundation chief Andrew Muir who cautioned that a moratorium on rhino hunting
could have “unintended and negative consequences which are prejudicial to the
southern white rhino conservation as a whole”.
“To allow the continued expansion of rhino
range and numbers, and so enable overall numbers in the country to grow… the
private sector and communities have to provide the new conservation land. The
extent to which they do so largely depends on economic incentives and the
perceived risk of managing rhino.”
They conclude that a
moratorium on hunting could also result in a drop in rhino prices and encourage
owners to remove more of their animals.
IUCN Species Survival Commissions
(SSC) African Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG) (Appendix 4) has over the years recognized
the generally positive role that sport hunting has played in the increase in
white rhino numbers in South Africa. Hunting of white rhino (WR) started in
1968 when perhaps there were only around 1,800 white rhino in Africa. It helped
give white rhino a value on auctions that has encouraged the expansion of
numbers and range. Thus white rhino numbers in South Africa have increased over
10 fold since hunting started.
The support for the continued
hunting of white rhino is taken up by the man who arguably was largely
responsible for saving the white rhino from extinction, Dr. Ian Player. Dr.
Player stated in an interview recently that in 1960 it was estimated that there
were 60,000 black rhino in Africa and only 600 white. By the end of Operation
Rhino (of which Dr. Player played a central role), there were only a few
thousand black rhino while white rhino numbers were growing rapidly. Dr. Player
commented, “What lead to this, and what people don’t understand – and don’t
want to understand - is that in 1970, white rhino were placed back on the
hunting list. That meant that game ranchers were able to buy [white rhino] and
have hunters come and shoot them and pay a lot of money to do so. To the great
credit of the ranchers, they were taking that money, buying more land and
buying more rhino. The numbers of rhino shot were minimal, but what it meant
was the habitat was being expanded all the time and that literally lead to an
explosion of white rhino.”
Thanks to Operation Rhino, it
is estimated that there are approximately 4,500 white rhino (or 23% of the
world’s population) on 2.2 million hectares of private land in South Africa (EWT).
The combined habitat on private land is bigger than the size of the Kruger
National Park.
In 1968 the Timbavati was one
of the first recipients of white rhino under Operation Rhino. Initially 4 white
rhino were introduced and over the next 5 years, we purchased a further 22 from
the then Natal Parks Board. In 1994, prior to the removal of the ecological
disaster that was the fence between the Kruger and Timbavati, our white rhino
population had grown to 67. On removal of the fence we immediately lost 70% of
our rhino to Kruger. So the Timbavati helped to stock the central KNP areas
with white rhino. As the meta population in the Kruger expanded north, our
white rhino numbers slowly recovered to such an extent that we believe we are
close to territorial capacity. As we have no fence, all game found in the
Timbavati (and the Kruger) is legally classified as “res nullius” or ownerless.
Therefore the accusation that we are hunting Kruger rhino, from both a legal
and logical standpoint, is absolute nonsense.
To the contrary, by removal of the fence, Timbavati helped to increase
white rhino numbers in the central Kruger area.
Contrary to popular belief,
according to CITES the overall populations of both white rhinoceros and the
black rhinoceros continue to increase in the wild despite high and increasing
levels of poaching. White rhinoceros populations now total about 20,165
individuals, and black rhinoceros populations about 4,880.
When it comes to hunting, we
will always encounter emotive arguments. Our management team have a duty to put
emotion aside to make the best decisions based on the best scientific
information available to ensure we uphold our objective to “promote the
conservation of biodiversity for the sake of posterity, and to manage its
ecosystem, landscapes & species populations to serve the ecological
interests of the Timbavati and the Open System”.
My greatest fear regarding
the uninformed anti-hunting activists is that their sentimentality for
individual species, or even for individual specimens within a species, will
have the unintended consequence of the decline or even destruction of certain
species in the wild.
There are many animal rights
activists and members of the public who criticize sustainable hunting without
really understanding the harsh realities facing conservation in Africa. And
then you get true conservationists who are involved with saving and protecting
rhino all day, every day. The Timbavati is the latter and probably does more to
protect rhino than any NGO or other private organization. This comes at huge
cost and needs to be paid for somehow.
The Timbavati has one of the
most effective anti-poaching units in the world. This comes at a cost. We have experienced field rangers (who
receive paramilitary training), electrified alarmed fences, and vehicles for
armed response. In additional there are costs associated with informants fees,
fees paid to assist with intelligence gathering, improved firearms to counter
increased firepower of poachers and legal fees to represent staff when they are
involved in shooting incidents. And we have darted, micro-chipped and DNA-sampled
more than 70 rhino in an on-going program to aid law enforcement in curtailing
the illegal trade in rhino horn. The list goes on…
When it comes to the war on
poaching we are the Western Front. Not only do we protect rhino located within
the Timbavati, we also protect a large number of rhino located in the western
section of the Kruger National Park (KNP). We are a Buffer Zone to the National
Park. The Timbavati works with the KNP on a daily basis to coordinate
anti-poaching activities. We are on the ground, all day, every day protecting
rhino at huge personal risk to our dedicated field rangers and management.
Armed incidents with well-armed poachers are a regular occurrence.
Specialist independent
scientific studies are undertaken for each species to be hunted which analyses
the impact of any off-take of the species. From the study, a hunting protocol
emerges, which dictates how and which individual specimens may be hunted. All
animals removed from the Timbavati through hunting have to be under permit
issued by the provincial conservation agency, after approval by the Kruger
National Park. This is a lengthy and controlled exercise, and should the
sustainability of any species, or any sub-group within a species, be under
threat generally indicted by a decline in numbers, the process would prohibit
the hunting of such species. The Timbavati would never allow hunting of a
certain species if there was any negative impact, short or long term.
Dr. David Mabunda, CEO of
SANParks recently stated, ''We have a good relationship with the Timbavati
Association, and they are excellent conservationists. Hunting in private
reserves, contractual and provincial parks is allowed within the framework of
provincial legislation and sustainable use of natural resources. This framework
means that hunting can only take place if it is based on scientific studies,
scoping exercises, aerial surveys and the granting of a permit to hunt by the
department responsible for conservation. SANParks scientists and rangers are part
of the process that determines [hunting operations]. We have reached an
agreement with Timbavati and the other privately owned reserves that border the
Kruger Park. This agreement states that the area would be managed according to
the management plan that applies to the Kruger National Park. And our policy is
open to the sustainable use of natural resources.”
Hunting of iconic species
will always be emotive and unpopular to the many uninformed. People do not need
to enjoy hunting, or to respect hunters. Rather they need to understand the
enormous benefits that hunting – including the hunting of white rhino - brings
to conservation, not only in the Timbavati, but to the whole of southern
Africa.
Do we have a rhino hunting
problem or a rhino poaching problem? We all agree we have the latter but to say
that they are one and the same thing is simply ludicrous. Sustainable hunting
of rhino is legal, and encouraged by environmental legislation and policy,
generates revenue for general conservation activities and rhino protection and,
probably most importantly, results in the expansion of rhino habitat and
numbers.
We are constantly looking for
alternative revenue sources to fund our conservation operations. The Timbavati
regards itself as one of the few examples in Africa where photographic tourism
and sustainable utilization through harvesting are conducted within the same
environment. The Timbavati does not regard these activities as mutually
exclusive. Many of our landowners run successful lodges which generate
conservation levies, but eco-tourism is not a panacea for all the challenges
facing conservation in southern Africa, and the number of lodges that the
Timbavati can sustain from an ecological and financial perspective is limited.
It is generally accepted by reputable scientists that photographic tourism
operations are more damaging to the environment than sustainable, well managed
hunting operations. Simple anecdotal evidence from the Timbavati illustrates
the point: it takes approximately 18,000 guest nights in lodges (or one guest
staying for 50 years) to generate the same revenue that the Timbavati
Association receives from one hunter shooting one rhino.
If you are a critic of rhino
hunting, ask yourself “What have I done to save the rhino today?” and compare
your answer to what the Timbavati does every day, all day.
Tom Hancock
(Spellcheck edits performed
by Diizche Safari Adventures)
