Zimbabwe Wildlife for Sale

L

Loxodonta Cobra

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Damn, If I had money, I would establish a zoo and buy (save) 1.1 black rhinos from Zimbabwe. I will keep after them greatly (proffesionaly), feeding them only with browse (leaves and branches), and some vegetables and vitamin-(mineral? - certantly not iron or copper, actualy very few)-supplements. Not at all grass. Quite big and interesting enclosures with trees, grass and bath (pool, sand/mud/clay).
 
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I can understand preservation of some select stock to ensure that wild population decrease doesn't wipe out gene pools; carefully monitored to ensure that you don't remove to much that wild populations have no chance at all.

However wholesale sale sounds more like a near cashgrab to my mind.

It's not so much that I'm opposed to the idea of removal and later return to an area and I can see argument that removal of a number of the population can reduce resource competition for those remaining (basically simulating catastrophic population loss). However something just niggles me with this and the way its presented.



I'm also left wondering what might have further impacted the drought; are there other factors which are making a natural water reduction far worse in its impact? Dams, ground waterextraction, industry etc... Or even something as simple as blocked migratory paths
 
In one of those reports they mentioned the sales are of animals from their reserves - the reserves are around the national parks and where they permit hunting. The National Parks have no hunting and are the breeding stocks, excess animals move into the hunting reserves outside the park where wealthy Americans and Europeans pay handsomely to shoot an elephant or a lion.

It's a model that works well, the hunting keeps the numbers in check and the funds pay for the upkeep and maintenance of the National Parks and it's staff, and contributes significantly to the local communities.

Something has gone wrong with that model, and I guess it is a result of less people paying to hunt game, coupled with the drought. Which is a shame; when I was there in 1985 I found it to be a beautiful country with plenty to offer the tourist, but all reports suggest that started to change around 25 or so years ago.

:(

Hix
 
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