Contrary to widespread blatant misinformation reports on social media and some sectors of the media that the hunting ban on elephants has been lifted, The Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) would like to inform members of the public and the international community that this is not the case. The ban on hunting of elephants and cats is still in effect as stated by the Minister of Tourism and Arts in her speech. ZAWA would also like to state that even before the ban was effected, Zambia was never a pro-elephant hunting destination. In the last 10years, even before the ban, hunting of elephants in Zambia has been at the lowest and quotas significantly small in the region and was restricted to two out of the 36 Game Management Areas (GMA’s) in Zambia, namely, Rufunsa and Lupande. And the only reason for hunting in these areas was because they were overly populated and causing human wildlife conflicts. Initially, ZAWA would simply control (kill) the animals. But this was seen to be a waste when some income could be gained through controlled hunting. It was on this basis that sport hunting was introduced here, and incomes ploughed back into helping the surrounding communities.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 21:04:52 +0000
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