The Big, the Bad and the Dead
By Anthony Williams
It didn’t get that big by being stupid!! - How many times have you heard people say that about animals? Wiley old creatures which when their spark of youth begins to fade measure up to their younger counterparts using wisdom, cunning and experience to outwit the food-chain. Enormous ambling elephant carrying huge ivory, stealing through the night to raid crops before sneaking back beyond Parks’ boundaries, or gnarled and secretive leopard who have learned from countless brushes with danger and death that all is not always as it seems. Ironically, as age dims their youthful agility, these are the creatures that often turn to man for sustenance. Not always just raiding his crops or stealing his livestock, but often preying on man himself. We neatly categorise the hunting of these creatures into that of PAC - or Problem Animal Control - seeking them out for eradication more than their trophy quality. But make no mistake, many of those animals who learn to exploit man as part of the food chain, are enormous.
Man has long been a dietary component for many of Africa’s top predators - stealthy leopard, marauding lion, evil hyena and of course, the cold and merciless crocodile. By far the main man-eating that goes on is among Africa’s rural folk. They live in simple abodes – usually constructed of flimsy materials like sticks, mud and grass - no running water, electricity etc. – and are very reliant on the natural world around them as they follow a subsistence life-style, often below the poverty line. Those who live close to any water body will spend a good proportion of their time fishing the banks with simple stick poles – no reels or fancy equipment – to feed themselves and family, or cropping on river and lake shores. More often than not, they will sometimes stand in the water, waste deep as they fish.
Some feel there is safety in numbers… playing the odds game so to speak, and hope the guy who gets taken by a croc is not them. Croc attacks are common, and when they occur, those remaining all take off for a few days after an attack, then return later in a group again. Add to this the fact that many African cultures have a strong superstition attached to crocodiles, and believe if you are going to get taken, it is because you have done something to deserve it or have been cursed, and there is nothing that can be done to avoid the attack. Likewise, if you are a good person, and free of curses, you can swim with crocs and they will not harm you.
City dwellers on the other hand, have become de-sensitised by a more urban, civilised and inane lifestyle. Educated, they seldom take chances, though often fall foul of Africa’s wildest due to ignorance, carelessness, or just plain bad luck. This often while holidaying and enjoying nature in all its glory... until it turns ugly. And there is nothing more sinister than a crocodile.
If you have ever watched one of the many documentaries on the Masai Mara and wildebeest migration, and the havoc crocodiles wreak on animals swimming across the river, you will be amazed at the stealth, cunning and sheer terror these creatures instil. Laying just millimetres below the water’s surface, they are able to approach their victims to within inches, before launching missile-like out of the water to fix their unsuspecting quarry in locked jaws, dragging them back into the water. Invariably, this is followed by the “death roll”, a manoeuvre in which the croc spins its body in an attempt to tear bits of meat from the prey. Should the poor creature still be struggling, it is dragged beneath the surface, and patiently held till it drowns. Chilling indeed!
Sitting at the hospital bedside of one Lourens Erasmus, the hair on my neck prickled with these images as he related his story. The victim of a crocodile attack at a fishing camp along Lake Kariba on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, he survived a vicious mauling which had all the hallmarks typical of these beasts.
Lourens (aged 53), a farmer, and his good friend visiting from South Africa, Frank Trott (aged 72), had been at Kariba for a week of bream fishing. Returning to their lakeside chalet - sighted on the point jutting into the bay - they prepared dinner as the sun set and a full moon peaked over the eastern horizon. Although the bream fishing had been good, Lourens who had never caught a silver barbel wandered down to the water’s edge outside the lodge, scouting for a safe and comfortable spot to set up for a bit of night fishing. Kariba had been rising, and water had started flooding the still green grass of the shallow flood-plain. Walking a few metres along the bank in the almost ankle deep water, he stopped at a point where thicker Kariba water-weed marked deeper water. Curiosity satisfied, Lourens turned to walk back to the lodge. It was just after 8pm.
This task of PAC often falls to the professional hunting community - men in the field working in close proximity to villagers and whose dual role it is to keep the peace between man and beast as well as find quality trophies for paying clients. Sometimes though, the role of peacekeeper falls to others. People who work with communities in different roles are often on the scene when tragedy strikes, or at least the first outsiders to arrive. One such individual is Steven Curle, with a typical farm up-bringing in which hunting played a large part - usually for the pot. Involved in missionary type work in Zimbabwe, he has often been closest when aggrieved villagers need help, and through a learner professional hunters license, works with the authority in the control of problem animals.
Wondering around his house, evidence aplenty attests to his hunting and some of the animals he has taken. While not a sport hunter, he keeps the odd trophy - grim reminders of the often gory tasks he is assigned - but seldom takes a camera or a tape measure. One of his specialities is identifying and killing problem crocodiles - usually man-eaters, a task he says affects one in pretty short time. As he recalls the drama of countless scenes, he remembers “Waves of emotion flow through the villagers. Usually only the men are present, as in tradition, women are not allowed at the scene.” Grief follows anticipation as the hunt commences, which is then followed by some jubilation should the animal be killed. This is soon replaced by dread and more grief as the croc is opened up, and human remains confirm their worst fears. “It gets harder and harder to participate in the aftermath.” Says Steve. As Steve became involved in PAC through his humanitarian work, his priority is always to recover the human remains.
Steve goes on, “It is not unusual for more than one croc to have feasted on a human victim, and if all the remains are not recovered, the other culprits need to be identified and shot... usually at the insistence of the villagers.” But this often leads to conflict with Parks practices, as their mandate is shoot the main animal and get out. Eliminating a bunch of animals in the hope they are part of the problem is not the way to go, but angry villagers seldom heed this. “I have become pretty attuned to identifying man-eating crocs,” says Steve. “They behave differently, and it does not take long to identify them.” Steve usually gets to the scene as early as possible in the day, and stakes out the waters from a good vantage point. Behavioural differences soon begin to identify the culprit or culprits, though there is often one main offender. Local knowledge from the villagers helps too... where they normally bask, what time they come out of the water and so on. This allows Steve to set his ambush and wait should he not have identified the man-eater, though he avers the culprit is usually the biggest croc in the dam and usually out-weighs any other crocodiles by a noticeable margin. This exceptional size is probably due to their human/livestock diet and separates them from their smaller brethren.
This was the crocodile shot in 2007 which the poacher helped drag around the dam before it was butchered.
“Man-eaters seem to know they have crossed a line.” Says Steve. “They tend to hide, basking in the most inaccessible parts of the water-body. Any approach by strangers, and they are gone.” Steve believes his white skin is instantly recognisable to crocs as “different” and a threat forcing them into hiding. However, if cornered and threatened, they will charge - another trait Steve believes comes from their man-eating habits. Should the croc not have finished feeding, there is often some sort of a oil slick evident on the water, and Steve has even seen crocs shepherding their floating victim’s remains using their snouts to nudge it through the water to a safe feeding place. A well-fed croc will normally need to raise its body temperature by basking in order to effectively digest the meal, and this is another tell-tale sign Steve looks for. This is especially so in the cooler winter months.
One particular story involved a croc at a dam Steve had visited two years previously. In 2007, he had been called in to shoot a known man-eater. To his surprise, a fish poacher was plying his trade on the dam, and the Parks officials arrested him and he assisted in dragging the dead crocodile through the water along the shoreline to present it to the villagers. A chilling prospect considering the nature of the crocs that lived there. In 2009 when Steve was called back to shoot another man-eater, he was dismayed to learn that the victim was non other than the poacher they arrested in 2007. A local TV station was also on the scene, and filmed much of the elimination and recovery of the croc. As part of the program, the reporter interviewed a youth whose rather bent and misshapen arm was in a plaster cast... an injury he had sustained two weeks before while bathing in the same dam. It is believed he was attacked by the same crocodile which Steve had just shot, and in whose stomach they found the remains of the poacher. On that day, Steve shot the three of the culprits, but was called back ten days later to shoot a fourth. All four crocs contained various remains of the poacher.
As an interesting sidebar to the television footage, Steve pointed out the still beating heart of the croc, some two hours after being shot dead! In addition, while butchering the croc they recovered a .32 calibre bullet from an old wound in the skin.
While Steve does a lot of PAC crocodile hunting, he is also called upon to attend to other beasties, among them hippo, baboons and hyena. As can be seen from those pictured here, they too exhibit incredible body size. Unfortunately though, as already stated, Steve seldom measures or weighs the creatures and one can only guess at their monster sizes.
The bay in which the crocodile attack occurred.
From behind him, the water exploded in a spray of weed and debris, as a croc which had been laying in the thicker weed watching him, launched its attack. In a split second, Lourens now laying in the water, was held firmly in the crushing jaws of the croc. Its top jaw clamped across his lower back, with the lower jaw piercing his upper right thigh between his legs, the croc easily overpowered him and dragged him backwards into the water. Once in deeper water, the reptile began its death roll, flicking Lourens head over heel several times. As it stopped, Lourens’ head broke the surface and he was now almost chest deep in the lake. In spite of the shock of the sudden attack, Lourens realised a croc had him, and remembering stories that poking at an attacking croc’s eyes will trigger a release, he reached down locating the bony ridge above its eye. As he pushed his finger deep into the eye socket, the croc began shaking him again forcing Lourens to abandon his attempts. Unable to move, he called out for help.
Somewhere out on the water, and across the bay, several people were answering Lourens’ cries for help. Frank, unaware of what had transpired over the previous couple of minutes, ran out to see what was happening. “A croc’s got me” said Lourens... the silver sparkling water calm around him as he stood motionless in the croc’s grip. It would seem the croc believed its prey to be submerged and drowning, and was content to lay still gathering its strength before devouring its victim.
Without hesitation, Frank waded in to help Lourens, reaching out for his hand. As they touched, Lourens felt something brush past his free leg, at which point Frank exclaimed he too had been attacked. In a second, Frank was dragged into deeper water and disappeared from sight.
A deathly silence fell over the moonlit night again and Lourens cried out once more, and was answered by a subsistence fisherman somewhere out on the water in a small boat laying night nets. Paddling toward Lourens, he called reassuringly. As the small 10' boat came alongside, Lourens latched on and manoeuvred himself around the stern to grab on to the transom. Daring not to move too much, Lourens was handed a section of broomstick like wood by the fisherman - probably a piece of a broken paddle. Carefully directing it down, Lourens probed to find the croc’s open jaws, and in one movement, plunged the stick into the croc’s throat. He was released immediately and clambered on board the little boat.
Back on the shore, unconcerned by his injuries - or not even fully aware of their extent, Lourens quickly got to his truck and launched Frank’s boat. Aided by his rescuer, they scoured the bay for almost half an hour trying in vane to find Frank. Weak from shock and now in pain, Lourens had to withdraw from the search, and was rushed to the local emergency clinic in Kariba town - some 30km away, where he spent three days before being moved to Harare. Following several skin graft operations, Lourens made a full recovery. Tragically, Frank was killed by the crocodile and while his body was not recovered, National Parks did shoot a croc they identified as the culprit... tatters of shredded clothing hanging from its smiling jaws.
It is easy to become complacent on and around our many lakes and dams, and especially so at Kariba or along the Zambezi. Crocodiles are numerous and ever present in Africa’s waters. While not credited with any great intelligence, they are efficient and instinctive killers, possessed of great strength and ability. They are also known to become habituated to man’s presence and even “learn” that he is a source of food - both as a meal, and in the scraps and free fish meals he provides with fishing nets and keep chains. Kariba has seen its fair share of croc attacks over the years, but in recent times, those crocs in and around tourist centres seem to have lost their instinctual fear of man. In the wild, crocs will happily share a meal, and in the event of an attack, one should never assume there is only one culprit in the vicinity.
Professional hunters, studying Lourens’ injuries, put his attacking croc at about 9ft. Not particularly huge as far as our perception of man-eaters go, but it proves that any croc encountered in the wild can be fatally dangerous and turn man-eater.
One of the four man-eaters shot by Steve after they had consumed the luckless poacher. BELOW - Some of the remains recovered from this croc. Note the considerable digestion of flesh off the bone, taken place in just 10 days.
One of the man-eaters basking in the sun on a relatively inaccessible part of the dam. Many of Steve’s shots on crocs are over 200 metres, due to their careful habit of keeping a low profile.
Another of Steve’s man-eaters, also estimated to be over 18 feet. Steve has shot many of these super-crocs in relatively small impoundments of water, and believes that they are in fact old residents of these waters and not transient visitors from bigger bodies of water. When interviewing many of the elders close to where the man-eaters live, it has become evident that the same croc has been present for a long time and known to the older villagers. Interestingly, many of these dams were built in 1950s and 60s and Steve believes they were probably there from the start, but that it is their change in diet that has enabled them to remain in the smaller waters and attain unusual size.
This is an old matriarch hyena which had been hunting and eating fully grown cows by itself in the Macheke area of Zimbabwe. She was too clever to come to a bait, or even return to one of her own kills, but responded aggressively to a recording of hyena feeding. After a short stalk on the occupants of the Land Cruiser, she boiled out of the bush in an attempt to attack the source of the sound. Steve shot her at near point blank range. While she was not weighed or measured, it can be seen from the picture and cured skull that she was indeed a huge animal. Steve remembers her gums being so warn down, that broken teeth and root systems were exposed.
A sizeable male baboon which had been intimidating villagers and stealing crops.
His tools of the trade are geared for long range shooting, a skill he has honed to a fine art. He uses a Nikon Monarch Laser 800 range finder to confirm shot distances, and for shots longer than 100 metres he uses his Ruger Model 77 .300 Win Mag scoped with a Leupold 3.5 - 10x50 AO with Leupold Dot Reticle, loaded with 200grn Swift A-Frame bullets. The rifle is fitted with a recoil reducer in the stock and a Pachmyer decelerator pad. Some of his shots range out over 250 metres. Shorter shots are taken using his .416 Rigby Ruger Magnum rifle also fitted with a Leupold scope (2,5 - 8x36) loaded with 400grn Swift A-Frame bullets. As he is often called to actually climb into deep water to retrieve the animals he has shot, his life literally depends on his skill. He quips “While poking around in the murky depths trying to locate a sunken croc, I often analyse the accuracy and efficacy of my shot lest I become the next victim.” Steve uses a neck shot on crocs - aiming between the point of the shoulder and the backward extremity of the mouth - as this shot anchors the animal immediately and is sure to kill. While he uses a specially converted aluminium pool brush pipe fitted with large treble fishing hooks at one end to prod the lake or river bed locating the croc, it invariably means he or someone else will have to dive to tie a rope to it.
Man as part of the food chain is as old as life itself. Rural people seem to have developed a more philosophical approach to man-eaters, and in the case of crocodiles, believe that unless a measure of witchcraft is involved, one can be relatively safe from attack by them. It is quite fatalistic, but a cultural trait which maybe offers some peace of mind when living in such close proximity to nature. There is often a squabble which develops over the right to the dead crocs, as in most cases the villagers want to eat the animal in order to avenge the death of a community member.
In the 17 years Steve has been involved in PAC, he has shot 36 hippo. This hippo had taken up residence in a small farm dam, and had killed two farm workers as they were changing irrigation pipes in a wheat field he was grazing in. His tusks measured a staggering 30 inches - so long that they protruded through the top of his mouth through two naturally worn holes. It is believed that hippo are responsible for more human deaths in Africa than any other single animal. There are few things more dangerous and lethal than encountering a hippo on land, any distance from the water. They can range very far from their home water to graze after nightfall, and will often be encountered up to 10 or more kilometres from water, and often where least expected.
For years, the image of the crocodile shot by Steve has been circulating the internet, boasting mythical alligators and terrorizing man-eating crocodiles. We publish this story to alay the myths and tell of Problem Animal Control in Zimbabwe.
africa's professional journal for serious hunters since 1994
africa's professional journal for serious hunters since 1994
Hunter's Gallery
 Lion by Randy CadwalladerRandy Cadwallader with a beautiful lion taken with PH Peter Fick. |  Buffalo by Dave CreamerDave Creamer and a nice old buffalo taken with Grant Taylor & Mashambanzou Safaris Mozambique. |
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 Nyala by Rob WalshRob Walsh with a beautiful nyala taken with Cheetah Safaris. |  Impala by Alex NemeklaAlex Nemekla and a nice impala shot a 80 metres with a .308 and Africa Hunting Safaris, Inc. |
 Warthog by Ralph von BargenRalph von Bargen with a nice warthog shot in Chirundu with PH Jannie Meyer. |
Hunters' Resource
africa's professional journal for serious hunters since 1994
Nyati... Take Nothing for Granted
Very early on in the compilation of the main components of the book, the authors and editors realised that, like so many other guide type books, there was a danger of over-simplifying aspects of hunting this most popular of the big five. General descriptions when discussing shot placement for example, have no place in a guide book designed to educate in such a way that prospective hunters have no doubt about what they might be doing. It is the case in many instances where experienced professional hunters make the mistake of “generally” describing shot placement to clients as the “heart/lung” shot, or the “behind the shoulder” shot. A greater understanding of the organs and their location, and their job is essential if all players are to truly understand the desired target area for a killing shot on buffalo.
Under shot placement in the book, it is explained that “You should not take a general behind-the-shoulder shot for granted. You have to aim to either hit the heart, the main arteries and veins within the chest, or the spine. Damage to the lungs themselves is not quickly fatal unless combined with massive internal bleeding caused by damage to major blood vessels. When a hunter talks about a “heart/lung” shot on buffalo he is generally describing the shot aimed into the region of the top of the heart. Shots slightly high, forward or rear of this will not only puncture the lungs but will definitely also hit a major blood vessel. Shots low will of course hit the bottom of the heart.”
Basically, the first shot has to count to be quickly fatal. There is no other animal that can absorb so much lead and keep functioning for so long when it is certifiably, clinically dead on its feet!
One of the many Fact File sections contained in the book deals with the buffalo’s vital statistics, reducing the internal workings of the animal to a sort of schematic diagram as it were. It reads “Understanding the main vital organs - from the brain to the blood vessels - in relation to the bulk of the buffalo, is an important first step to understanding shot placement. While detailed shot placement is covered elsewhere, it is important to understand these “vital” areas, mentally reducing the animal to a schematic “wiring” diagram showing essential components.
“As an ungulate, buffalo have a very large, four chambered stomach that occupies much of the body cavity. They also have a large heart for their size (proportionately twice the size of a mans). Where the buffalo differs from most others, is in its rib structure, heart position and lung range. All other ungulates, including domestic cattle, have relatively thin ribs with large (intercostal) spaces in between. A buffalo though, has very broad and thick ribs of up to 8cm (three inches) with minimal spaces in between. Indeed, when the animal is relaxed and breathes out, the eighth to the twelfth rib actually overlap. This combined with a very thick hide (around an inch thick over the back and ribs) helps significantly reduce the risk of internal injury from a lion attack, but also offers considerable protection against poorly designed hunter’s bullets.
“The massive stomach tends to push the contents of the chest cavity further forward too. The heart‘s centerline being aligned with the third rib, rather than the more usual “between third and fourth rib” in most other ungulates. The lungs also protrude unusually far forward - on average, almost four inches in front of the first rib. Repeated experience has shown though that a hunter’s bullet through the front tips of the lungs is of precious little value since it seldom results in significant bleeding and/or collapse of the lungs. Similarly with the rear-most portions of the lung. Therefor, the extremities of the lungs surrounding that portion which contain main blood vessels (close to the heart), cannot be considered a “vital” target.
“When standing at rest, the diaphragm, with the liver and spleen attached to its posterior, is in line with the sixth rib. Any shots behind this (which penetrate adequately) may pass through the outer lobes of the lung, but will also hit the digestive organs - stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys, gall bladder etc. and is not necessarily fatal. To be sure, when the animal is, or has just been running hard, the diaphragm pushes the stomach back to behind the eighth rib, and as the animal breathes in the very edges of the lung’s lobes protrude right back as far as the twelfth rib. But as the animal breathes out, everything collapses right back down with the stomach moving as far forward as the fifth rib. In brief, shots more than a hand-span behind the front leg on a hard breathing animal may get the main body of both lungs or may simply be a pure gut shot.
“The neck is a complex mass of blood vessels, nerves and the spinal chord itself. There are eight principal arteries in the neck. The two vertebral arteries run inside the spinal column itself in the neck (and only in the neck), whilst the main Carotid arteries which feed the brain with blood and the Jugular veins which return the blood to the heart, run just below the spine. For the hunter, these are obviously very “vital” organs, the problem being their relatively small size within the neck itself. In spite of this, these major blood vessels and nerve systems are often damaged by well placed heart/lung, spine or neck shots.
“The brain is obviously the key to life, but in a buffalo it is relatively small, situated low down in the skull and is well protected. The spinal chord which carries the nerve impulses to the rest of the body is protected by the spine itself. Breaking the spinal chord paralyses all muscles behind the break but in itself is not necessarily fatal. A blow to the spine which does not sever the spinal chord usually results in “concussion” and the animal instantly collapses only to revive some time later and make off... or charge. Shots behind the shoulder blades are not fatal in themselves.”
Another Fact File is entitled Looking Through the Gap... And Taking it. “Taking the gap” is a colloquial term meaning “To disappear at speed” or in the case of buffalo, go crashing off in a headlong stampede for the next province! This is what happens when buffalo have spotted you, smelled you, or heard you stalking them. The Fact File deals more with the initial stages of the stalk, the all important act of getting into the right position, to take that perfect shot which will see your buffalo crumple like a sack of potatoes... rather than burst into aggressive action like a de-railed locomotive. Doing this is often more difficult than it sounds, and has much to do with the buffalo not detecting you before you are ready. Few people understand how the buffalo uses his eyes and the sight they afford. This fact file states “There is an interesting behavioral trait which buffalo exhibit when spotting hunters within their danger zone. Casually grazing along, something alerts him to impending danger... movement, reflection off a barrel, or just maybe a sixth sense. Raising his head, he looks directly at you. With infinite patience, he stares right at you, the minutes dragging out for what seems an eternity. The little gap he is staring at you through, now seems like a gaping window, as you are convinced he must have seen you. You have stopped breathing, and the bead of sweat which has broken free from under your cap, feels like a diamond-like jewel, reflecting every specter of light right back at the buffalo. Crouched, the muscles in your legs are starting to cramp, and your mind is screaming out for you to shift position. You are sure the buff is about to go crashing off. But he doesn’t. Instead, he breaks his stare with you, and faces directly ahead. Without a thought, you have fallen for the ruse, and shift your position or slowly raise your weapon - his flank offering the ideal target. Immediately, the buffalo swings back toward you, catching your every movement, confirming for him, what he only suspected a second before. He “takes the gap” crashing off to safer climes. What happened?
“Like all herbivores (or ungulates), buffalo do not really have very good binocular vision, their eyes being placed more on the sides of the head, than in the front. When looking straight ahead, they are able to judge distances, but have a “grey” area centre of vision. This in truth is the peripheral vision. When the buffalo turns its head 90° to a viewed object, the single eye is able to pin-point detail far more accurately. So, when a buff looks at you, he is judging distance, turning away merely confirms the detail of what he has spotted.
“It is interesting to note that unlike long necked animals which have good all-round vision, a buffalo’s head is in line with its body effectively restricting its rearward vision. The bulk of its shoulders, and rounded rib/torso section block much of its backward view when looking directly ahead
.
“If you are locked in a stare with a buffalo, and he turns away... stay still! Absolutely still. A little patience is all that is required. Possible danger has released adrenaline into his system - the survival drug, and he is suddenly more alert than a second before. As he turns away, maybe looks back a second later... no movement is detected. He will likely settle into a more relaxed attitude... going back to feeding, or dozing, or just amble along. This is your cue for further action... before he takes the gap.”
africa's professional journal for serious hunters since 1994
The Elephant Ban Debacle
The African Hunter Guide to Nyati - The Art of Hunting the African Buffalo, contains 14 of these factual and interesting fact files, along with 12 full chapters with sections written by more than half a dozen guest contributors dealing with everything from the history of the buffalo in Africa, to ballistics, to photography to taxidermy. It literally is the most comprehensive work ever produced on the subject. The full content will not only educate on hunting the African byffalo, but will also equip and guide the first time, and even seasoned hunter, on all aspects of visiting Africa. It is an essential part of any serious African hunter’s arsenal.
First published in 2003, the African Hunter Guide to Nyati - The Art of Hunting the African Buffalo - has been hailed as the most comprehensive work ever produced on the African buffalo. Some three years in the compiling, its 450 pages, packed with more than 300 diagrams and pictures, presents a complete portrait of the animal and how to hunt it.
The book is available online from the African Hunter website.
Press Release
Service Suspends Import of Elephant Trophies from Tanzania and Zimbabwe
April 4, 2014
Contacts:
Gavin Shire
703-346-9123
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced a suspension on imports of sport-hunted African elephant trophies taken in Tanzania and Zimbabwe during calendar year 2014. Questionable management practices, a lack of effective law enforcement and weak governance have resulted in uncontrolled poaching and catastrophic population declines of African elephants in Tanzania. In Zimbabwe, available data, though limited, indicate a significant decline in the elephant population. Anecdotal evidence, such as the widely publicized poisoning last year of 300 elephants in Hwange National Park, suggests that Zimbabwe’s elephants are also under siege.
Given the current situation on the ground in both Tanzania and Zimbabwe, the Service is unable to make positive findings required under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Endangered Species Act to allow import of elephant trophies from these countries. Additional killing of elephants in these countries, even if legal, is not sustainable and is not currently supporting conservation efforts that contribute towards the recovery of the species.
The decision to suspend the import of sport-hunted trophies from Tanzania and Zimbabwe applies to elephants taken in 2014. The Service will reevaluate this suspension for calendar year 2015 or upon receipt of new information that demonstrates an improved situation for elephants in these countries.
Legal, well-regulated sport hunting, as part of a sound management program, can benefit the conservation of listed species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve the species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation. At this time, the Service does not have conservation concerns with African elephant sport hunting in Namibia, South Africa, or Botswana; though it should be noted that Botswana is not currently open to sport hunting.
For more information, please visit:
www.fws.gov/international/perm...hunted-trophies.html
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals, and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov
The Elephant Trophy Import Ban – What Does The Future Hold?
By I J Larivers
In April of 2014, conspicuously close to the start of the hunting season in southern Africa, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that American sport hunters would, until further notice – the 2014 calendar year was stipulated, but as we are now comfortably into 2015 and no further announcement has been forthcoming - not be able to import elephant trophies that were hunted in Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
They listed “questionable management practices, a lack of effective law enforcement, uncontrolled poaching and weak governance” as key factors which had in their words brought about “catastrophic population declines” of African elephant.
One of the first aspects of the ban that was questioned was its timing. Why not at the onset of 2014? Before the convention season, before hunts had been booked and paid for in good faith? At first, it seemed that this was possibly another form of economic sanctions, certainly against Zimbabwe, from an administration in Washington that has proved itself to be far from transparent and open. But of course, there was a bigger picture.
Firstly, Tanzania and Zimbabwe are two completely separate countries which face different challenges in their governance and relations with the rest of the world.
In Tanzania, for example, the arrests of several high-ranking conservation officials on corruption charges underscored the fact that in that country management practices were in part questionable, and if the gamekeeper has turned poacher then of course there will be a lack of effective law enforcement. In Zimbabwe, there is a vigorous approach to wildlife crimes taken by the Investigations Branch of the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority in liaison with the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s CID Minerals and Border Control Unit, and individuals found trafficking in ivory and rhino horn are liable to a mandatory nine year prison sentence upon conviction. Those actually encountered poaching face being shot on sight in terms of a presidential order dating from 1984. So far, so good, but in recent years a number of cabinet ministers have been implicated in poaching and trafficking in rhino horn and ivory, and of course these people are untouchable. As they are the de facto bosses of the National Parks and police officers doing the enforcement it calls into question just who might avoid prosecution.
Possibly the biggest thorn in Zimbabwe’s side was the disastrously ill-timed poisoning of over a hundred elephant in the country’s flagship Hwange National Park during the year. Activists, among them the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, erroneously inflated the actual numbers, and the international media swallowed the exaggerated figures hook line and sinker, but the damage had been done.
OK, in Africa, law enforcement is problematical. It’s not like in America, where there is accountability – though if you read Marc Reisner’s Game Wars the challenges Zimbabwean and Tanzanian authorities are facing today is not unlike those faced by the USF&WS in, say Louisiana not so long back. If they can’t be overcome, they can at least be managed.
I can’t speak for Tanzania when it comes to wildlife management, but Zimbabwe certainly has the infrastructure to get it right. The present National Parks and Wildlife Authority is certainly not what its predecessor the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management was back in the 1920s through the 1980s, as a lot of the qualified personnel such as Dr Willie Nduku and Dr Rowan Martin have sought greener pastures, and that sort of expertise is the essence of good management. In fact, the whole concept of “authorities” as currently embraced by the Zimbabwe government is ill thought-out and flawed. We have authorities administering our municipal water supplies, which are sporadic. We have authorities administering our electricity grid, which is sporadic. Why think that making any government department self-funding will make it better? Or even as good? Yes, they will be self-funding, but at the end of the day much of that funding will still find its way back into the state coffers and the emphasis will be on making money rather than service delivery. The recent comment by the governor of Masvingo province “We don’t care about wildlife. We want cash.” Kind of sums it up. But the infrastructure is there, and can be resurrected.
Elephant Importation Ban - Litigation Update
December 26, 2014
On December 26th, SCI and NRA received good and bad news in our efforts to challenge the ongoing importation bans on sport-hunted elephants from Zimbabwe and Tanzania. The D.C. federal district court issued a ruling on several motions that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had filed to try to dismiss our claims.
We received very good news about our Zimbabwe elephant claims. The court ruled in SCI and NRA’s favor on our ability to proceed with our challenges to the Zimbabwe importation bans — both to the ban announced on April 4, 2014 and the decision to continue the ban that the FWS announced on July 23, 2014. The FWS fought particularly hard to have our claims against the April 4, 2014 decision dismissed because they know that they will have the most difficult time defending their conduct in making their abrupt decision to ban importation despite lacking adequate evidence to do so. The Court refused to allow the FWS to sweep this conduct under the rug. The ruling cleared the way for SCI’s Litigation team to move forward to present our case on why the FWS acted illegally in shutting down importation from Zimbabwe without a sufficient basis for doing so.
Unfortunately, the court’s ruling on our Tanzania claims was not favorable. The judge took the position that because importation from Tanzania requires a permit, the only ones who can sue to challenge the ban are those who apply for permits, have their applications denied and unsuccessfully participate in the FWS’s lengthy permit appeal process. The court rejected SCI’s and NRA’s arguments that, instead of disputing the denial of an individual permit, we challenged the underlying decision upon which all importation applications would be measured and that submission to the permit process would be a futile exercise. The court dismissed our Tanzania importation ban challenges. SCI’s Litigation team is currently considering whether we should or can seek an immediate appeal of the Tanzania ruling.
We are moving forward with our challenge to the 2014 Zimbabwe importation ban and are watching for the FWS’s decision on importation from both countries for 2015. If the FWS does not lift the bans, we will consider whether we should amend our current suit or file new litigation to challenge the 2015bans. Please continue to watch out for SCI Litigation Alerts, e-mail communications and Crosshairs for updates on this important case.
Zimbabwe’s main problem, though it boasts one of the better wildlife departments in Africa and the best professional hunters and guides – at least as far as training and accreditation goes – is that it has had very dodgy relations with the amorphous entity “The West” ever since the euphemistically-named land reform program was begun at the beginning of the millennium. We’re the international bad boy of Africa. And the trouble with being the bad boy is that eventually, when no one wants to play with you anymore, you start to revel in your badness. It becomes a badge of honour. “I’ll do whatever I like”.
So, one of the first predictable reactions by the Zimbabwe government to the ivory import ban was something along the lines of “How can ‘The West’ tell us what to do?” With emphasis on aggrieved indignation. Of course the US Fish and Wildlife Service was never trying to tell the Zimbabwe government what it could and could not do. I am happy to accept that the US Fish & Wildlife Service made a decision, based on the lack of requested information forthcoming from Zimbabwe, that it could no longer be certain that sport hunting for elephant was not deleterious to the elephant population. That decision was clearly not based on empirical scientific evidence, but more on that later. So, it was telling its own citizens what they could and could not do. Very possibly as an expedient in some hidden political agenda.
Now, before I get tarred, feathered, and hung drawn and quartered for my blasphemy, of course I don’t believe that elephant trophy hunting in Zimbabwe or Tanzania is in any way endangering the species. Just the opposite. Zimbabwe’s CAMPFIRE program is the leading light in encouraging rural Africans to look after their own wildlife heritage, because they are benefitting from it. It has as its nucleus sport hunting. Professional hunters and outfitters are increasingly becoming the front line in the anti-poaching wars. Elephant populations are far from threatened largely because of sport hunting and the revenue it generates. You know that and I know that, but the crux of the matter is the information that Zimbabwe was willing to share with The United States. Or lack thereof.
Zimbabwe’s elephant population is probably just under 60,000. Initially, the Zimbabwe government claimed figures in excess of 100,000. Lesson: good fiction should always be credible. This highlighted the fact that proper censuses were way out of date and played into the hands of the anti-hunters. 50,000, or even 40,000 elephant are still way in excess of Zimbabwe’s carrying capacity - all you have to do is listen to Ron Thomson to figure that out.
Ron, a career wildlife manager with twenty four years’ service in Rhodesian and then Zimbabwean national parks has basically taken the ban apart piece by piece in his excellent report “A General Overview on Zimbabwe’s Elephant Populations and the Conditions of the Habitats That Support Them”.
Ron’s first point is that the USF&WS has stated that elephant populations in Zimbabwe are on the decline, but itself admits that this is based on sketchy data. In other words, on what information was the statement made – the inflated claims by activists that 300 elephant were poisoned in Hwange and other subjective sources? Ron argues convincingly, using statistical evidence, that even if 300 elephant had been poisoned in Hwange it was a one off occurrence and the numbers of elephants continue to increase within the park.
Ron goes on to further argue that, in his words, Zimbabwe’s national parks are “grossly over-stocked” with elephant, and that as a result irreparable damage is being done to the various ecosystems concerned.
In view of Ron’s well thought-out conclusions, the USF&WS has no credible reason to believe that Zimbabwe’s elephant numbers are in decline, or that they are in any way in need of “recovery”. Zimbabwe has only itself to blame for the fact that it was not forthcoming with population numbers and statistics as requested by USF&WS, but the US Fish and Wildlife Service can hardly justify basing such far-ranging conclusions on such arbitrary data as that fed to the press by activists.
But perhaps in all the confusion of the fray - with activists trying to influence the various authorities and keep the ground they seem to have gained, professional hunters and outfitters reeling from a blow that has cost them materially and professionally, sport hunters outraged at their treatment at the hands of Big Brother, and the Zimbabwe government trying to regain some manner of political stability – we have all overlooked maybe the most significant question of all. That of whether or not the indigenous rural peoples of Africa have any say whatsoever over the way their wildlife resources are used.
They are the ones at the forefront of the battle to conserve Africa’s wildlife, because they are the ones who live with it on a daily basis. They are the ones who occasionally fall prey to the odd marauding lion, elephant or buffalo. They are the ones whose crops suffer problem animal damage when they are living literally a subsistence existence off the land. They are the ones who made initiatives like Zimbabwe’s CAMPFIRE program internationally heralded successes. And they are the ones who have been left out of the whole equation.
In Zimbabwe, the government owns the wildlife, all wildlife. But the government is ensconced in the relatively well-developed environs of the capitol Harare and often out of touch with the needs of its rural people. It is often so consumed with its own Machiavellian intrigues that it doesn’t realise how out of touch it is. And sometimes it doesn’t really care, unless there is money to be made, such as with the proposed export of elephants to the United Arab Emirates and China.
So, owning the wildlife, the government is outraged when an agency such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service attempts to “interfere” in its utilisation of wildlife. American hunters are not happy about being told where they can and cannot import trophies from and of course African PHs bemoan the loss of revenue and credibility. The rural population is simply viewed as collateral damage.
Below is one of the reports that we have submitted to the US Fish and Wildlife Service in connection with their decision to ban the importation of sport hunted ivory from Zimbabwe and Tanzania for 2014. For those of you who are concerned, please circulate to promote awareness of the actual situation on the ground.
Please note that the movie "Grey Matters" is NOT an Osprey production.
Report on Elephant Numbers in Zimbabwe
Submitted to FWS
The banning of the importation of sport-hunted ivory into the USA.
The United Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) states that the poisoning of 300 elephant in Hwange National Park validates Zimbabwe’s elephant poaching issues. The actual number was between 120- 130 as per a report from Mr. Collin Gillies who is the chairman of the Matabeleland Branch of Wildlife and Environment, Zimbabwe. If the service is prepared to accept this false information as fact, it calls into question the validity of the rest of its intelligence.
All the cases of poisoned elephant were actually found by professional hunters. Thys De Vries in the Josibanini area of Hwange and Pete Fick in the Ngamo forestry area and the Maitengwe area. Had these professional hunters not been in the field, and the only viable hunting in these areas is elephant hunting, red flags would not have been raised.
The poachers from that poaching incident were hammered, 4 groups were caught and only a few individuals from each group escaped but they are known and will be on the run forever. All others arrested were sentenced to jail terms of more than 5 years. The poisoning has not occurred again since the arrest of these poachers. The successful and effective response appears to have worked at least for the short term. The hunting operations on the boundaries of the park are a very effective deterrent to poaching operations. If they are forced to leave there will be nobody to monitor the situation.
The Hwange National Park has the largest population of elephant in Zimbabwe. The park’s longest boundary is also the southern most boundary of the biggest elephant population in the world i.e. KAZA (the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area http://www.kavangozambezi.org) This boundary is with the Tsholotsho and Maitengwe communal areas.
The sport-hunting quota of elephant from the three hunting areas (Maitengwe, Tsholotsho north and Tsholosho south) is between 30 -35 per annum. This number has been the consistent annual off-take in these areas for nearly 20 years - it is sustainable.
The financial value of this sport hunted quota that fits within the CITES approved quota administered by DNPWM can be quantified in 3 ways:
1. Trophy fees paid to District Councils average $ 15 000 per elephant multiplied by 35 gives a total of $ 525 000. This actually constitutes 95% of their total CAMPFIRE income from tourism and wildlife.
Of this total, 85% goes straight back into ward and village level projects. Their impact is huge as an example a typical twin classroom blocks for 70-80 students costs in the region of $ 50 000 each to build.
2. An equivalent amount of money is generated through daily rates into the local economy by hunting safari operations in the form of staff salaries, foodstuffs, transport, diesel, the purchase of thatching grass from local people, the hiring of casual labor for road-clearing and other maintenance work.
3. The amount of philanthropic dollars from sport-hunters who visit the area almost matches that again on a per annum basis.
An excellent video on the import ban, The Elephant and the Pauper: The Ivory Debacle has just been brought out by Zig Mackintosh in conjunction with the Hunter Proud Foundation and John Jackson III of Conservation Force, two of the ones on the frontlines in the legal challenges to the ban. This movie addresses the origins of the problem, how it is affecting the various parties involved, and also how the rural African populations fit into the Grand Scheme of Things. More importantly it offers suggestions and solutions. Here it is:
So no, we all know that if anything sport hunting is protecting Zimbabwe’s elephants, but the ban was in large part due to Zimbabwe playing the bad boy and refusing to cooperate with USF&WS before it was too late.
Because the ban was based on inadequate information supplied – let’s not quibble over who; Zimbabwe didn’t cooperate with requests for information so the USF&WS blindly accepted the delusions of the activists over things like the “300” elephant supposedly poisoned in Hwange and the “66% decline over the past five years” in the elephant population is Tanzania’s Selous National Park – it was all our faults, so let’s just get on with it and see if we can’t move forward.
It didn’t take long for Safari Club International to file a lawsuit against the USF&WS over the ban. The argument is that a large portion of the revenue derived from hunting is channelled back into conservation, and that the elephant populations are not in danger in these two countries.
So the question now is what does the future hold? Zimbabwe, at least, has worked actively to fill in the gaps in its own elephant population figures, and it has enlisted the assistance of internationally renowned experts like Dr Rowan Martin to advance its case. Its law enforcement initiatives have become more vigorous and the cautious CW at this point seems to be that the ban on elephant trophy imports from Zimbabwe will be lifted in 2015 – if, and it’s a big if – the decision to include Zimbabwe was not wholly political. If that was the case, the situation has not improved.
I tend to go with this feeling, though I am not clear at all in my mind about what will happen in Tanzania.
So, watch the video, and along with those of us on the ground here, hope for the best for the hunters, the conservators, and especially the African elephant, who really has the most to lose from the ban.
An example of this is a project that was initiated by a sport-hunter through Living Waters. In the Maitengwe area 24 village wells were sunk and equipped and 18 in Tsholotsho, each well costing $ 10 000. To find out more about Living Waters click on this link.
These amounts may not seem much to the average American but to poor villages living on the frontline with wildlife, it is a lot of money. The average family incomes are less than $500 per year. These are the same people that will either report or support the Chinese sponsored poachers when they come back to town after the sport-hunting operators move out. Last year in the aftermath of the poisoning incidents they exposed the poachers and that led to the arrests of most of them. In the absence of sport hunting generated revenues there is little doubt what they will do next time.
Another critical benefit of the sport hunting of these 35 elephant produces 70 tons of read meat per annum for the local communities. This equates to 1.3 tons per week for these communities that eat protein on average one meal per week.
The San people who were displaced from Hwange National Park when it was created are totally reliant on trophy hunted elephant meat for survival. Without it they would be totally destitute.
Prior to the launching of this successful CAMPFIRE program in this area more elephants were shot on problem animal control (crop-raiders that annihilate the villages only source of food) for zero return than are sport hunted today.
Hunting companies started pumping water in Hwange Park in 2002 because the Zimbabwean Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management (DNPWM) were no longer able to keep the pumps going because of a financial crisis. Since then hunters have kept tens of thousands of elephants alive, principally in the southern quarter of the park.
Through the servicing and maintenance of pumps and waterholes by the hunting operators, 8000 elephant are provided with water. At the end of the dry season each year 130,000 US gallons of water are pumped to the surface per day to sustain the elephant and the other wildlife species.
The Maitengwe dam also provides water to all of the wildlife in the Sibanini area of the park once all of the natural waterholes have dried up inside the park. Every year repairs to the dam have to be carried out because of the intense pressure that is placed on the dam by elephant and other wildlife species as well as the local community cattle. The hunting safari operators carry out these repairs.
The Rural district councils realize $ 525 000 per annum from trophy fees from the sustainable sport hunted elephant quota. There is one photographic lodge in the area which generates $ 30 000 per year in revenue for the council. By next year there will be three photographic lodges which should increase this total to $ 100 000 which is still well short of the $ 500 000 realized through trophy elephant hunting.
The closing of elephant hunting for US hunters through the ban of the importation of trophy hunted ivory will not stop the poaching of elephant and the actions of the FWS are totally irresponsible and in fact extremely dangerous. The minimal poaching that occurs, and the taking of 35 trophy elephant a year pales into insignificance to the real problems that Hwange and indeed the whole of Zimbabwe faces and that is the over-population of elephant.
The History of Hwange National Park
It is important to understand the history of Hwange National Park to realize how the present circumstances have arisen.
When Ted Davidson, the first Warden of the park, arrived in 1922 he realized that the provision of water was going to be the key factor. By July every year, in all but exceptionally wet seasons, most of the water had dried up and water-dependant game were forced to leave the park. And move into conflict with a rapidly increasing human population around the Park. The elephant population at that time was between 500-1000.
Most of Hwange National Park is flat and sandy, with little run-off during the rains; consequently there are no permanent rivers that flow year-round and very few small water- courses.
There are, however, numerous natural pans formed over thousands of years by animal activity. These pans are seasonal, only filling with the arrival of the rains. The game park sits above a network of fossil riverbeds containing vast amounts of water and so a program to sink boreholes near established pans and pump water into them was started.
Windmills were erected to pump water into the pans but as wildlife populations flourished in particular elephants, they became unable to sustain the demand of the increasing water dependent animal populations.
During the 1950's and 60's the introduction of diesel engines to supplement the windmills in pumping water into the pans improved the situation dramatically. Year round water soon had an effect on game migration, too.
By 1980 elephant populations had reached 25 000 and the sustainability of the system exceeded as woodlands and other herbivore species collapsed.
The present estimate of Hwange's elephant population ranges between 25 000 and 40 000. There is some debate as to the actual number but it is irrelevant. There is very clearly a massive overpopulation when seen in the context of limited food supplies within range of available surface water.
During the drought of 2012 large numbers of elephant died of starvation within Hwange National Park. The meat from these animals rotted in the bush as the natural scavengers could not deal with the amount.
Click this link to watch a trailer of the movie 'Grey Matters' which highlights the crisis.
So we are faced with a farcical situation with a starving elephant population on one side of the fence and on the other one of the poorest communities in the world being denied revenue from the utilization of a natural resource because of a perceived but inaccurate concern for the wellbeing of a single animal species that is actually in a state of overpopulation.
Quite simply, the ecosystem of this part of Africa cannot sustain these elephant numbers. For FWS to declare that sport hunting within the communal lands neighbouring Hwange is having a detrimental effect on this population is ludicrous and without any scientific basis as is the charge that the illegal off take of elephant within Hwange National Park is of the same gravity to that of the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania.
Zig Mackintosh.
https://www.facebook.com/HuntGeo
We are moving forward with our challenge to the 2014 Zimbabwe importation ban and are watching for the FWS’s decision on importation from both countries for 2015. If the FWS does not lift the bans, we will consider whether we should amend our current suit or file new litigation to challenge the 2015bans. Please continue to watch out for SCI Litigation Alerts, e-mail communications and Crosshairs for updates on this important case.
africa's professional journal for serious hunters since 1994
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