Question

READ THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE ABOUT TROPHY HUNTING. WRITE A PROSE SUMMARY THE ADVANTAGES OF TROPHY HUNTING.SUMMARY SHOULD BE ABOUT 100 WORDS

Trophy hunting has increased the value of the country’s game considerably. So much so, says freelance journalist Sven-Eric Kanzler, that nowadays a game farmer is often better off than a cattle farmer. In fact, paradoxical as it might seem, it is through hunting Namibia’s wild animals that a secure place is reserved for them on commercial and communal farmlands.

Furthermore, game was to be hunted only during the hunting season (June–July) and all wildlife belonged to the state. Small wonder, therefore, that farmers mercilessly killed predators that ‘interfered’ with their cattle, and got rid of game because it diminished the – often sparse enough – grazing (gemsbok), damaged fences (zebra) or carried disease (blue wildebeest, buffalo).

Grellmann, The founder and former long-serving President of the Namibia Professional Hunting Association (NAPHA) has studied the relationship between man and wildlife intensively. “If you want to protect wildlife and its habitat you have to integrate the animals into man’s world,” Grellmann concludes. “This can indeed be achieved with trophy hunting.”

Because trophies have, in fact, increased the value of game considerably. So much so that a game farmer nowadays is often better off than a cattle farmer. Many Namibian farmers have survived extended periods of drought only because they established hunting as an additional source of income.

Furthermore, it is a fact that not only has trophy hunting increased considerably in Namibia since the sixties, but so have game populations. One reason is the growing number of farmers taking care of their wildlife. More importantly, the increase is due to a simple mechanism of nature. Hunters usually look for male animals past their prime. They are strong and experienced enough to keep younger rivals at bay, but they may be in charge of more females than they can cope with. If old males are taken out, younger and sexually more active animals take their place, producing more offspring.

It is also a fact that game populations in many communal farming areas have recovered – due to trophy hunting. The Namibian government provided the pre-requisite when it introduced the conservancy, a legal body that receives land utilisation rights upon registration. Rural communities that have established conservancies are entitled to grant concessions to professional hunters, stipulating the species and number of animals that may be shot. In return the conservancy receives a major share of the profit, enabling it to provide employment and training for its members. In return they value the income and hope for the future increases. Thus they preserve wildlife and nature in their conservancy area and take action against poaching.

Another fact is that old animals often die an agonisingly slow death by starvation. Elephants are a good example. At the age of 55 to 60, when their sixth and last set of molars have become worn down, they start to lose weight and either die of hunger or, because they are weak, are attacked by lion or hyaena. By comparison, death through the bullet of a trophy hunter would appear to be a more humane end. What’s more, old elephant bulls represent a trophy for which hunting guests pay most handsomely. What a waste if this source of income were not utilised.

Volker Grellmann does not reject the argument that conservation funds could just as well be generated by non-hunting tourists, i.e. ‘non-consumptive tourism’. But, he points out, one hunting guest spends ten to twelve times as much as an ‘ordinary’ tourist. “Take a photo-safari,” he says. “Who would pay N$1 000 for taking a picture of a kudu?” Admittedly, while he can’t be bagged a second time, the kudu can also be photographed by the next tourist. This is not decisive, however, when it comes to sustained utilisation through trophy hunting. Far more importantly, Namibia with its limited water resources and sensitive environment needs to attract smaller numbers of tourists, in effect, the well-to-do tourist.

Finally, it is a fact that trophy hunters cannot just go out into the bush and shoot at everything that moves. Trophy hunting is strictly controlled by law. Each hunting guest is only allowed two trophies per species. Permits and veterinary documents needed for exporting are part of the controls. As in (sustained) fishing, hunting quotas are allotted to individual areas as a result of meticulous game counts.

Answer 1

it is also a fact that game populations in many communal farming areas have recovered due to trophy hunting