HEY, ANTI-HUNTERS: African Wildlife Expert, ‘Go After Poachers, Not Hunters’

Clash DailyJuly 28, 2014

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Check out why this African Wildlife expert in Namibia thinks that the anti-hunting agenda over there is non-sense and why they should focus on going after poachers instead. See below…

I was born in a village outside Sesfontein, one of the remotest parts of Namibia. I grew up experiencing daily encounters with wildlife so I feel very well qualified to enter the Namibian hunting debate.

The side against hunting reminds me of the era when the colonial government used different means to prevent local people from benefitting from wildlife. The apartheid government regarded us as too irresponsible to look after the wildlife that we lived with. It had to be protected from us and it belonged to the government. The anti-hunting lobby is behaving in exactly the same way: they, outsiders who want the privilege of seeing wildlife when it suits them, seem to think they are needed to protect our wildlife – from the independent Namibian government and from local people because we believe in sustainable hunting. I cannot, right now, think of any explanation that will make me understand why these people are blowing hunting in Namibia out of proportion. Is this a plot by some groups to ensure that rural people do not benefit from sustainable utilisation?

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I do understand that there are people out there who don’t want to see wild animals being killed. To me this totally illogical as many animals all over the world are being killed every day – be it fish, cattle, pigs, sheep and chicken. And the way most of these animals are being killed is without any respect, and crueler than we can imagine. Why are these people not shouting about this? Or are their mouths too full of beef, pork or mutton?

I would think if people were so much concerned about wildlife, the focus would be on how to curb the immense poaching activities that are happening in South Africa, Kenya and other countries. Why are they picking on Namibia where we have found our own road to conserve and increase our wildlife populations, while at the same time helping rural people to diversify their local economies?