Presentation on Hunting by the South Africa Wingshooters Association

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Presentation on Hunting by the South Africa Wingshooters Association

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Review of Aspects: Tourism, Hunting, Ranching and Ethics
There is signifi cant confusion about the concepts of game reserves and ecotourism, game ranching and food production,
professional hunting and recreational or cultural hunting, agronomy and wingshooting. Many of these activities are
incompatible. For instance, to combine game viewing by overseas tourists with professional hunting in the same vicinity is
a recipe for disaster. It can give rise to the type of international publicity which causes untold damage to the South African
Tourism Industry. Unfortunately, the potential for such incidents — often involving well-meaning but uninformed people
- is almost unlimited. Clearly, it is high time that critical aspects of the Industry must be addressed.

Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge about hunting and game ranching by persons on the preriphery of the 'Industry', even
by so-called experts, is such that there is no simple solution. For example, the lack of clear codes of conduct (such as quota
limits) and particularly the absence of any form of centralised authority and extension services mean that any development
and control programme will have to be accompanied by long term training and re-orientation by private associations.

Ten Recommendations
1. Establish a permanent working group of experts who have intimate knowledge and experience of hunting and game
ranching which can indentify problems and make ongoing recommendations to authorities and the lawmakers.
2. The Department of Agriculture must accept stewardship for commercial game ranching (such as breeding and har-
vesting) as a legitimate form of agriculture, for recreational hunting and for the development of the wingshooting
industry jointly with land managers, including the establishment of skills development programmes similar to that in
the United Kingdom (e.g. gamekeepers) and rural community development projects.
3. In view of the demonstrable lack of capacity at provincial government level, the DEAT must accept centralised respon-
sibilty for professional hunting as a closely allied division of ecomanagement and tourism.
4. Recognise the economic pitfalls of trophy hunting and develop strict controls over trophy hunting on a national basis to
ensure the principles of biodiversity maintenance.
5. Control very strictly the hunting of lions and spotted cats on a national basis.
6. Ban the bow hunting of elephant and rhino (in which the back-up of a big game rifl e is needed).
6. Ban all canned bird shooting (captive bred and released just prior to shooting) on national basis.
7. Recognise the importance and general conservation value of wingshooting (example Scottish Grouse), and of gun-
dogs for their role in conservation, sustainability studies and animal welfare.
8. Recognise the need for close cooperation with Agriculture (particularly agronomy and pasture management) to de-
velop the Gamebird Industry to its full potential as earner of foreign currency and in poverty alleviation at rural level.
9. All hunting seasons and bag limits/quotas to be streamlined and centralised in consultation with the private sector.
10. Discontinue the system of hunting licences for gamebirds as unworkable and unimplementable (as obsolete as dog
licences) which does not benefi t the resource, adds an administrative burden and creates contempt for the law.

Download the entire presentation at View attachment 2754.