Yesterday on the Elephant Voices blog on Wildlife Direct I read about South Africa’s plans to manage elephant populations by culling. That’s the polite way of saying “killing.”
Joyce and Petter wrote a very reasoned and analytical view of the new “norms and standards” proposed by the SA government. They also asked the one question that so many conservationists seem to fear: “Are we ever going to accept any limits on our behavior and use of resources?”
Today, Dr. Richard Leakey addressed the new “norms and standards” proposed by SA in his Wildlife Direct blog. This is the man who, while serving as the head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, instituted a shoot-poachers-on-sight policy for elephant and hippo poaching. Those policies are still in effect today, although I’m not sure how rigidly they’re enforced.
Dr. Leakey writes: “The statement made by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South African minister of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, on the publication of the final norms & standards for elephant management on 25th February 2008, reveals that South Africa has come a long way since their positions in the 1980’s. The country has clearly looked seriously at the issues raised by experts from around the world by consulting widely within and beyond South Africa, and has prepared a carefully considered position on the management of elephants that aims to serve the interests of elephants as a species, their welfare, their impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, and their effects on the people both locally and nationally.”
He also raises the issue of human overpopulation, although more politely than I do: “While I will never ‘like’ the idea of elephant culling, I do accept that given the impacts of human induced climate change, and habitat destruction, elephants in and outside of protected areas will become an increasingly serious problem unless some key populations are reduced and maintained at appropriate levels. A part of the problem is caused by increasing demand for resources by humans and I believe that we have are responsibility to check our own impacts in order to reduce conflicts between elephants and humans by controlling human activities as well.”
Today, I also got a DawnWatch alert in my e-mail inbox that reported on the media’s coverage of this story, which seems a bit one sided. You can read the entire alert here. Mostly, it appears the newspapers reporting this story claim that killing of elephants is imminent and fail to mention all the changes that South Africa has made since the 1980s in its management of wildlife populations.
So, what do you think of this news? I’m struggling to see the need for killing off members of an endangered species just so human animals can continue to thoughtlessly multiply and destroy more of our non-human animal’s habitats. I do see both sides of this hideous coin, but the overwhelming question that screams in my mind is: WHY CAN’T WE STOP MAKING MORE HUMANS AND LET THE EARTH BREATHE?
s.
Filed under: endangered species, overpopulation, wildlife conservation
Amazing post., dude