South Africa: Elephant Culling 'A Last Resort'

Business Day (Johannesburg)
26 February 2008
Linda Ensor
Cape Town

Elephant culling will be permitted for the first time in SA since 1994 to control growing herds and to halt environmental damage.

The government estimates the elephant population of the Kruger National Park, SA's largest conservation area, is increasing 7% a year, and might reach 20000 by 2012 and 30000 by 2019.

In neighbouring Botswana, the elephant population has now reached about 106000 from 34000 in 1983, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species .

Under a set of final norms and standards for elephant management, to be published in the Government Gazette on Friday, the import and export of captive elephants will also be prohibited, and intensive breeding of elephants in captivity, other than by natural birth, will be prevented.

"The government recognises the need to maintain culling as a management option, but it has taken steps to ensure that this will only be the option of last resort," Environment and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said yesterday.

"This means the capture of elephants for commercial exhibition facilities, such as elephant-back safari industries or circuses, will as of May 1 be prohibited."

The norms and standards would apply to all protected areas as well as to private land on which elephants were found.

The minister said there had been a number of complaints about alleged cruel and unethical practices during the training of elephants for safaris or circuses, such as the use of chains, ropes and electric prodders.

Van Schalkwyk committed his department to developing, within about a year, minimum standards for the management and care of the about 120 elephants already held in captivity.

Compliance with these standards would be a precondition for the approval of captive elephant facilities in terms of the threatened or protected species regulations, he said.

Van Schalkwyk said the agriculture department would craft a regulatory instrument under the Animals Protection Act and the Performance Animals Protection Act to govern captive elephants.

His department had jurisdiction only over elephants in the wild. He said there would be mechanisms in place for controlling the elephant population.

"What has emerged is a thoughtful piece of legislation ... (that) includes a tool box of options for the management of elephants, wild and captive."

Rob Little, of the World Wide Fund , said the government approach was "responsible" .

Jason Bell-Leask, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said: "Now what is needed is to ensure the law is so tightly drafted that it leaves no gaps to be exploited by commercial operators, in particular the elephant-back safari industry."

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