MADIKWE Game Reserve CRISIS

[Pondoro]

Ron Thomson has my admiration..

 

[VertigoBE]

BTW Ron, is not doing to well financially after his heart Operation we as BASA are trying to figure out a way to help him out.

But if there is any other ideas that come to mind please pass them on.

I'll see to buy his books. Wrote him today.

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

You might consider looking up their positions and who runs the organization before assuming too much from a name. They aren’t the ones mismanaging the reserve just highlighting the situation. I looked them up because I was wondering where money would go.

true green alliance are very pro hunters

ron tomson has done and seen it all a 1000X over
he speaks the truth

its the government and their retarded departments mismanaging everything

 

[Sideshow]

Sadly this is not a new thing and has been happening across Africa in many parks and conservancy's.
Tsavo Nat park was a prim example of what happens when you take away the natural balance of human predation on elephant.
The Wasanya, Waata and Waliangulu hunted elephants with bows. The Bow had a draw weight of around 100lbs! Goa goa (spelling not sure) was one of the ace bow hunters and took around 1500 in his time. They took the meat as food and sold the ivory down on the coast to buy more poison for their arrows and palm wine.
When the park came into existence in 1948 they where branded poachers.
In 1956/57 they came under so much pressure from the wardens that they had to give it up there hunting ways.
Once they stopped these bow hunters. They wardens noticed an increase of 10% in elephants a year and a destruction of the large trees and other habitat. As well as a lose of some species and and increase in others. The drought of 70/71 was a catalyst for many reasons. With the increase in elephant population the drought killed off around 6000 to 10000 elephant. With the with all that ivory lying about it was not long before people started just walking in and picking it up. Then the poaching really started.
The Shifta came in from all over and even the park rangers where involved.

But back to the elephant problem that is today and the lessons that we should learn from that time in Tsavo and other nat parks and conveyances.
We only need to look at Kruger Nat park to see how these animals are impacting there environment in the same way that happened in Tsavo.
Loss of big trees equals loss of the birds that nest in them. They have noticed there's a drop in vulture numbers due to this. Also ground game, less Sable and more Impala.
Not yet proven but has been noted that the elephants are also becoming smaller.
Culling operations. The 2022 count was 13050 with a 10% increase each year you are looking at a huge problem to get the park back on a level that dose not impact other species.
Getting Hunters in is not the way. You need professionals. You need to kill entire family units all at once. This way they wont communicate and traumatism the rest of the elephants in the park.
Im no expert this is just what Ive read and learned from my time in Africa.

If we do nothing there will be no environment left the elephants will change it that much.

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

the biggest issue people dont realise is not the elephant itself
by the time the elephants are a problem, the habitat destruction is so far gone its almost not recoverable or will take decades to return
as soon as large tree cover is damaged, even slightly, it impacts the various eco systems going on below, all the smaller plant species and the animals eating that are already gone the plants are dead and the animals shortly followed by moving elsewhere or starved to death
the impact is far greater on all the other species but the damage is caused by the elephants

the trees they damage are on average 100+ years old!!!
these cannot be re planted!!
to be honest elephants are a menace and there numbers should be kept very low in any parks

yes when culling its best to take out family groups, but the communication story is another load of rubbish told by the greenies as a reason not to cull
yes cull, definately, but selective hunting also helps a hell of a lot and can keep the numbers at a level where they should be

 

[Frederik]

They will make good money if they can get the numbers in control firstly and there after have a hunter buy a package 1 bull plus 2 cow elephants. I can tell you when there is no hunter that would not love to have a go at 3 elephants in go and obvioulsy the animals would be selected properly old dry cows.

Madikwe could then use the money to rehabilitate and close sections off to regrwo trees.
But what as hunter do we know now. Bloody greens have no idea what negative impact they have it all looks to prisitine on TV.

 

[saswart]

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Check out the video on this matter

The call of the wild cannot go unanswered! Madikwe’s future depends on us. Let’s preserve this sanctuary for generations to come.
Every contribution makes a difference.
Join the cause here: https://portal.suco-sa.org.za/campaign-donation/10
Read more: https://suco-sa.org.za/starvation-and-death-of-elephants.../

 

[375Fox]

They will make good money if they can get the numbers in control firstly and there after have a hunter buy a package 1 bull plus 2 cow elephants. I can tell you when there is no hunter that would not love to have a go at 3 elephants in go and obvioulsy the animals would be selected properly old dry cows.

Madikwe could then use the money to rehabilitate and close sections off to regrwo trees.
But what as hunter do we know now. Bloody greens have no idea what negative impact they have it all looks to prisitine on TV.

I was really impressed with the first outfitter I hunted with in Namibia. They ran an extremely successful tourist operation in conjunction with a hunting operation on their main property. It managed the game and maximized value from land. I think most hunters are more than willing to work with the photo tourism side but they refuse to accept hunting. It’s unfortunate.

 

[LIMPOPO NORTH SAFARIS]

https://maroelamedia.co.za/nuus/sa-nuus/diere-vrek-van-dors-by-eens-florerende-molopo-reservaat/

Please excuse this link being written in Afrikaans to our international members , this is just to add to the discussion that the sad this happening in Madikwe is not a isolated occurrence its happening throughout all of our national and provincial parks the powers to be, that are supposedly in charge of taking care of said reserves are incompetent to say the least.

The genetic diversity not only in endangered species like wild dogs that are lost due to starvation, die of thirst or other related issues to the inability of the people in charge is worry some.

We lose even more valuable species of plants, birds and other smaller creatures each having its own place in a chain network that is reliant upon each other for the functioning and maintaining a healthy ecological system certain irreplaceable species, keystone species that can easily be overlooked and missed are in just as much grave dangers as the whole park itself. Locally and internationally this is unacceptable and this is a good example of how influences of uneducated people advocating for a stop in all culling to maintain a ecological equilibrium has such dire consequences it leads to the total collapse of a ecological habitat thats effects we wont be able to grasp now but will only become evident in time and will take years to restore the balance, diversity, ecological health and a full functioning habitat.

 

[LIMPOPO NORTH SAFARIS]

Tourism in the form of park visitors doing eco tours and photographic safaris has a far far greater ecological impact and ecological footprint on a reserve than hunters in the terms of financial return per tourist vs one hunter that hunts one Elephant per 10-14 days safaris yields a much greater return and has a much lower ecological footprint in my point of view.