Namibia Refuses to Cancel Desert Elephant Hunt After Protests

This June 17, 2014 photo shows elephants roaming in Torra conservancy in Namibia. Namibia’s conservancies give local communities a stake in conservation and development across the country, and a community in northwest Namibia formed a joint venture with a safari company to own and run Damaraland Camp in the Torra conservancy. (AP Photo/Donna Bryson)

BLOOMBERG – Namibia won’t withdraw permits granted to hunt desert elephants, a group of the pachyderms that live in the country’s arid northwest, despite protests, the country’s Environment and Tourism minister said.

While decision to allow the hunting of nine elephants, most of them classified as so-called desert elephants, has sparked a Facebook campaign, ‘Stop All Hunting of Rare Desert Elephants,’ the minister said the money raised will be used to aid community conservation efforts.

“There is no withdrawal of the permits we gave for elephant hunting,” Uahekua Herunga, the minister said in an Aug. 12 interview from Windhoek, the capital. “We are applying the the country’s constitutional provisions, which entails that natural resources of the country are managed sustainably.”

The elephants, which live in the Kunene region, are one of only two groups adapted to desert existence with the other being in Mali. They numbered about 750 in 2012, according to the WWF, an environmental group. Most African elephants live in the Savannah regions of southern and eastern Africa while a subspecies lives in the rain forests of west and central Africa.

The elephants, one of which has already been shot, are mostly old animals, he said.

“We fail to understand the opposition to this, the elephants are better protected if communities are benefiting,” he said.

Namibia’s environment ministry refutes allegations on desert elephants

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has refuted the allegations and online reports that the ministry has issued hunting permits for elephants in the Kunene as a way of soliciting support for the ruling SWAPO Party from the communities in that region.

The reports further alleged that elephants in the Kunene Region occur in low numbers, the population is declining and that sex ratio is skew with only 18 bulls of which 6 of them are to be sold for non-trophy hunting.

In a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary Simeon Negumbo the ministry denied the allegation stating that they are inaccurate and unfounded.  He clarified that elephants occur across the entire north of Namibia with two main subpopulations in the north-east and the north-west parts of the country. In 2004 the total population was estimated at about 16 000 animals, while the current figure after ten years is over 20 000 elephants.

The north-western population is about 4 000 animals and includes the elephants in the Etosha National Park.  The north-eastern population is over 16 000 animals. The recent increases are well in excess of normal growth rates. 391 elephants were recently counted in the Kunene Region at a coverage of about 55 % with a biological sound sex ratio, the statement read.  Namibia’s elephant population and the Kunene population in particular, is a healthy and growing at about 3.3% per year.

The Permanent Secretary further pointed out that there are no desert elephants in Namibia adding that elephants in Kunene Region are being referred to as desert elephants because of their adaptation to living in desert conditions and for tourism attractions. They are the same species of elephants which occur elsewhere in the country and scientifically known as ‘Loxodonta africana’.

He emphasized that if there was a concern of a skew in the sex ratio as alleged, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism could have made efforts to translocate some bulls from the north eastern part of the country where they are abundant in numbers to the Kunene Region because they are the same species.

According to Mr. Negumbo elephants are no longer endangered but only potentially valuable.  He stressed that there are more elephants in Namibia today than at any time in the past 100 years. He said the numbers already exceed what many would consider desirable for the available habitats and they have been identified as a possible threat to other rare and valuable species which Namibia is trying to conserve, he added.

It was further said that two elephants are included on the game utilization quota for 2014 for the conservancies in the Khorixas district in the Kunene Region, and Omatjete area of the Erongo Region. The two elephants are shared by the conservancies. Torra and Doro !Nawas Conservancies share one elephant, while Otjimboyo, Tsiseb, Sorri-Sorris and Ohungu Conservancies share another one elephant.

These two elephants are for own use and not for trophy purposes and therefore the conservancies can utilize elephant cows as well and are not limited to hunting bulls only. The allocation is also to be utilized for the period of three years.

These quotas include problem causing animals and the Ministry will only under exceptional conditions consider granting approval that any additional problem causing animal be destroyed.

He added that that addressing human-wildlife conflict requires striking a balance between conservation priorities and the needs of people living with wildlife. Elephant-human conflict is not new in the Kunene Region.

He further emphasized that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism is aware of specific Non-Governmental Organizations and individuals who are working against the wildlife conservation activities of the Government and sustainable utilization of wildlife resources by rural communities through the Conservancy Programme.

He noted that these specific NGOs and individuals are not in position of research permits, operating agreements or Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Republic of Namibia through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism on their activities. He added that any work being done on elephant status in the Kunene Region by these NGOs and individuals is illegal and cannot be relied on. He warned that they should refrain from this irresponsible behavior before an action is taken.

The Namibian public and the international community were called upon to ignore these inaccurate, false reports and assumptions on elephants and sustainable utilization practices.