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Animal Charity Saves 60 Elephants but they may be Trophy Hunted
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by Amy Judd | June 19, 2009 at 03:18 pm
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The animal charity, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), is in the process of saving 60 elephants in Malawi and moving them to the Majete park where they can live out their days in peace. But it is now being discovered that the Majete Park may allow the animals to be trophy hunted.
The IFAW wants to move the elephants to stop them being killed by local villagers due to competition for space and crops, but the elephants, 18 of which have already been moved, will be placed to the Majete park are under a new threat.
The park is run by the African Parks Foundation, and they have always stated that in order to save their parks, they will consider options such as big-game hunting and trophy hunting, where wealthy Americans pay tens of thousands of pounds to shoot the animals. The parks board said that they see the hunting as a way of securing financial sustainability.
Peter Fearnhead, its chief executive, said: "We are not an anti-hunting lobby and we are not a pro-hunting lobby. What's important is the long-term sustainability of these areas.
"One can't take away from the contribution hunting does have as a tool or mechanism for conservation, even if one doesn't like it as a practice."
There were no current plans to introduce it in Majete, he said, but added: "If it was that we had a choice of having to hunt in the park or lose the park, obviously we would hunt."
The IFAW said it was unaware of the park's stance on hunting, but in a separate statement, a spokesperson for the African Parks Foundation said:
"The Department of Parks and Wildlife has stated categorically that elephant hunting will not be allowed in Majete, now or in the future - hence IFAW's involvement in moving the elephants to this location. Majete remains the most secure haven for the Phirilongwe elephants."
The locals have accused the IFAW of putting the animals' interests above those of humans as the elephants are preventing mass deforestation in the area.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 15:45 on June 20th, 2009
Too many people, too few resources. I think we know which ones will lose in the end.