"Misinforming" reports on wild animal culling

Worldwide outrage in the media about Namibia. Because the government has ordered the culling of several hundred wild animals due to the severe drought. The meat is used as a contribution to food aid for Namibians in need.

Nature lovers protested, partly because elephants are on the list. Some urged holidaymakers not to travel to Namibia. However, conservation experts backed the Namibian government.

This included the umbrella organisation 'Namibia Chamber of Environment (NCE)', which claims to have over 80 nature conservation organisations as members. NCE CEO Chris Brown described the outraged reports as "spreading misinformation". In an article for 'Conservation Namibia', he set the record straight. It's headline: "Namibia's decision to cull 723 wild animals to feed its people strikes a good balance".

But first to the government. On 26 August 2024, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) announced in detail what is planned. 723 wild animals will be culled. 640 wild animals in five national parks and 83 elephants in areas outside the parks where there are conflicts with humans.

More specifically, the 640 wild animals include 30 hippos, 60 Cape buffalo, 50 impala, 100 blue wildebeest, 300 zebra and 100 eland. The cull is limited to the Namib Naukluft Park as well as the Mangetti National Park, Bwabwata National Park, Mudumu National Park and Nkasa Rupara National Park.

Mass extinction threatens without regulation

Brown emphasises that the regulation of wildlife populations is part of Namibia's successful nature conservation concept, in parks and on farmland. The total population of game animals in Namibia is between 2.5 and 3 million animals. Of these, 80 per cent live on fenced farms.

In the past, wild animals survived droughts by migrating to areas where it had rained so there was still pasture. This is no longer possible today because of the fenced-in areas. Regulatory intervention is therefore necessary to prevent overgrazing and mass extinction.

According to Chris Brown, the natural growth rate of game animals is 20 to 30 per cent, depending on the species. As a result, hundreds of thousands of wild animals have to be killed every year - in drought years more than in normal years. These figures dwarf the number of 640 game animals that MEFT has earmarked for culling.

'Desert elephants' not affected

The situation is similar with elephants. Brown: "In terms of numbers, taking 83 elephants from a national population of 24,000 is certainly sustainable."

However, there were also concerns that 'desert elephants', which live in small populations in the extremely dry north-west of Namibia, were affected. These elephants are not genetically different from the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), but have merely adapted to their arid environment.

Due to the harsh conditions, these populations grow very slowly. They are not only important in terms of the diversity of the sensitive ecosystem. The 'desert elephants' also attract tourists. This means income and jobs for the Namibians living there.

But as far as NCE understands, none of these elephants are on the ministry's list for culling, Brown writes. "In areas that come close to the desert environment (five from Omatjete and four from Kalkfeld) MEFT will work with Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA) to avoid culling elephants that are part of their long-term monitoring project."

Utilisation of wild animals as part of nature conservation

Utilising the meat of the animals shot is an integral part of the general concept of utilisation of wild animals. This also includes elephant meat, explains Brown. In this way, elephant hunting directly benefits those communities that bear the brunt of the conflict between humans and elephants.

Incidentally, wild animals are always hunted far away from travellers - also for safety reasons. Thus these measures take place without the holidaymakers noticing.

Without tourism, as the years of travel restrictions during the corona crisis have shown, there is a lack of income for nature conservation. Many people then have no work and some are forced to poach for the cooking pot.

Sven-Eric Stender