Simviation Forums

African Elephant = 1

Trophy Hunter Tourist = 0

Don't mess with Tuskers!... ...!

....they will remember you from your last visit!... ...!

Paul.... ...!

One up to the elephants.

Is it surprising that Elephants are becoming more aggressive, they have long memories and can communicate with each other just as well as we can communicate. I suppose that when hunters enter an area word gets around.

Way to go Elephants.

Anthin.

“I do think that elephants are becoming more aggressive towards humans in very compressed areas where they are being shot at and harassed,” said Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell, a biologist at Stanford University. No kidding? I hope it didn't take a degree in Biology for Caitlin to realize this. I'd be aggressive too if I was being shot at and harassed.

Serves them right !!!


Rich

Humans need to get it through their thick
skulls,that other life forms have a right to
their natural existence.It is their world too.

What do we expect,when we kill each other
at the drop of a hat.

If we respect the fact that they are all our
cousins on Spaceship Earth, then we can hold
our heads up.

Anthin...











.

I think anyone who would want to hunt and kill an elephant is psychopathic. Per-i-od! Incapable of thinking beyond their nose.
Now let's just hope this animal is left in peace.

An African take on this issue. From an African.

This whole issue is a very complex and complicated problem to solve. The system of "game-farms" that are in place is not perfect, but is the best one yet.

Believe it or not, but the biggest threat to wildlife in Africa are actually the "local" people.

You try and convince the local farmer and community of the virtues of Elephants, Hippos, Buffalo etc, after a whole years crop has been destroyed the night before, with all the fences flattened.
Immediate reaction here is to search out the offending herds, hunt them down and kill them.
Also, shop the animal's where-about's to the poachers, and at least get a back-hand out of it.

The ONLY "workable"solution to this problem is for the local people and communities to ALSO benefit, and benefit well, from these free roaming animals.
This is by and large achieved with the system of "game-farms" and "game reserves".

Game farms allow "trophy" hunting, on a balanced and sustainable quota system, normally set by local government.
It is not cheap. A permit for one bull elephant can easily be around £50,000.00.

In African terms that is a lot of money. There is, for instance, a new school for the community, right there.
With the incomes generated by these game farms, the animals have become "ours", and a benefit to all.
Without this sense of ownership, it will all be a lost cause.

(Smaller game. like buck, are much cheaper. Yet most hunters do NOT take all of the meat with them, which is then distributed amongst the locals.)
Then also the other stuff like employment, direct and indirect, like farm staff and workers, vets etc.
Perfect system? Not by a long shot, but better than no system at all.

So does it put food on the plate? Yes it does.
Does a hunter just nilly-willy walk into the veld and shoot himself an elephant? Absolutely not.

So yes. I for one will not be taking any glee in the death of a paying customer.

Jan (Not Dorothy)

Jan I see your point of view and can understand the "locals" frustration with wild animals destroying their crops which after all is the local inhabitants food source.
But here's another question about the whole situation... If the animals are destroying the crops why isn't the government using the money from the trophy hunters
to build stronger fences? The way I see it is once the crop has been destroyed then killing the whole herd isn't going to bring it back and the folks can't live on elephant meat alone, at least not a balanced diet anyway. And which elephants should they shoot to prevent next years crop from being trampled? I can see, as you explained, there are many facets to the problem.
I still don't like the idea of "Trophy Hunters" though. Even the local gent I know and actually like rubs me the wrong way when he starts talking about his "Trophy Adventures". Their one and only reason for initiating the hunt is to bag a trophy they can photograph and go home to brag about. (Or cut of its head to hang on their wall.)

I would imagine the biggest problem is poachers who just kill the elephants for the tusks and leave the carcass to rot.

DANG!!! A Kamikaze Elephant. The most dangerous kind.

'Kamakazi Elephant'. What was he smoking? Wait...Elephants don't smoke! Why? Because they can't put their 'butts' in the ashtray!
Chuck B
Napamule