A battle royal is looming in the conservation industry worldwide. Next month a decision will be made at the CITES forum in the Netherlands on whether or not to uphold a ban on the trade of ivory on the continent.

Kenya which follows a strong non-hunting tourism tradition, thus finds itself at odds with the South African countries where hunting and culling are an integral part of wildlife management. In Zimbabwe which has annual hunting quota of 500, for example, a survey conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature and African Wildlife Foundation indicated an elephant population of around 110 000 against a carrying capacity of 47 000. Zimbabwe insists that Kenya has been ‘sent' to fight against Zimbabwe citing the fact that two Kenyan missions to Zimbabwe have in the past been vastly impressed by Zimbabwe's conservation efforts and by its attempts to resolve the competition for reasons between men and wildlife.

Kenya on the other hand contends that Zimbabwe's hunting, and that in the rest of the continent places pressures on its small herds a mere 30,000 and is thus calling for a complete ban on ivory and a return to the campaigns of the 1990s. In an incident in Tana River district this past week, Three Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers and four suspected poachers were killed. KWS director Julius Kipng'etich said the increased incidence of poaching showed exactly why it was exigent that a moratorium be called on the ivory trade.

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written by Jamvi , May 27, 2007

This all sounds a little perfect doesn't it. Tip off, Kipng'etich ready in a helicopter, the CITES meeting next month, the campaign against the Southern Africans. With our big 'land question' and the political class unwilling to resolve it we will have to find a way to make wildlife economically useful to those who surround the parks.
We have had a ban on trophy hunting since 1977, and while the likes of Born Free and IFAW may be happy to have Kenya onside, the likes of Namibia and South Africa will keep pinching these big spending tourists from directly under our noses. Conservation is one thing, but acting like wild animals are sacred when everyone is munching on them at the Carnivore is hypocrisy. As an example Zimbabwe is fighting particularly hard to keep it's ivory trade because this makes the country $ 15 million US a year, and that is from elephants alone. Now, we are obviously in a bad way with our lions, elephants and rhinos but we can afford to allow trophy hunters and communities around these parks some hunting rights. Let the money talk.

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re: Hypocrisy
written by Alexander , May 27, 2007

Conservation is one thing, but acting like wild animals are sacred when everyone is munching on them at the Carnivore is hypocrisy.

And therefore genuinely Kenyan. Alas. Absolutely correct.

Hypocrisy is the foremost characteristic of this country's psychological typology, don't forget that.

Alexander

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written by Amir Ibrahim , May 28, 2007

Here is a solution. Virtual (no pun, just take it as your conscience dictates) hunting. Link here.

A Texas company is considering letting web users use a remote-controlled rifle to shoot down deer, antelope and wild pigs.
For a small fee users will take control of a camera and rifle that they can use to spot and shoot the game animals as they roam around a 133-hectare Texas ranch.

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