SANParks' Culling Policy

[stefan9]

Totally unacceptable...

[Lisbeth]

All very thoroughly explained apart from Kruger. Why is Kruger left out almost completely? There must be a lot going on there

[Klipspringer]

Next "culling" operation underway in SANParks

https://www.sanparks.org/docs/groups_te ... to-bid.pdf

Tender:
The appointment of a credible service provider(s) for the provision of culling services for South African National Park.
CONTRACT PERIOD
The duration of this contract will be for a period of one (01) year

Namakwa National Park:
Ostrich - Struthio camelus 250
Gemsbok - Oryx gazella 200

Mokala National Park:
Warthog – Phocachoerus africanus 400
Springbok - Antidorcas marsupialis 200
Waterbuck - Kobus ellipsiprymnus 20
Ostrich - Struthio camelus 100

Addo Elephant National Park:
Warthog – Phocachoerus africanus 1000
Kudu - Tragelaphus strepsiceros 100
Plains Zebra – Equus quagga 100

Camdeboo National Park:
Fellow Deer 10
Ostrich – Struthio camelus 100

Tankwa National Park:
Ostrich – Struthio camelus 80

Karoo National Park:
Ostrich – Struthio camelus 60

[Klipspringer]

Keep in mind: The ostrich you come across and take a photo of, might be the one you are served for dinner in a restaurant then one day - that's effective sustainable use of the animals, first they attract the tourist dollars and then they are sold for food.

[Richprins]

In theory that is fine, as long as it is clearly proven that the animals are in excess and cannot be sustained by their environment. Odd how elephant in Kruger are deemed scientifically to be able to self-regulate their numbers in perpetuity, so magically don't need culling...

[Lisbeth]

It's not possible that there is no culling at all in Kruger Are they afraid of the public opinion

[Richprins]

(They cull hippo and buffalo for the community, though... )

https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=317&t=7113

[Lisbeth]

But don't mention it

[Klipspringer]

In theory that is fine, as long as it is clearly proven that the animals are in excess and cannot be sustained by their environment.

All the parks have a herbivore management programme and claim to monitor the herbivore numbers and the veld conditions.

Here an example from Mokala management plan, and it is obvious that the culling is also done to generate income.

https://www.sanparks.org/assets/docs/co ... a-plan.pdf

The purpose of this programme is to manage herbivore dynamics as a key driver of ecosystem integrity at various temporal and spatial scales.
Herbivore management focuses on the process of herbivory carried out by the large herbivores present in a park.
The effect that large herbivores have on ecosystems originates from their intensity of landscape use. This associates with where food, water and comfort, such as shade in hot days, may be located. In addition, herbivores orientate themselves on a landscape at places where danger from, for instance, predation is limiting. Several of these drivers are missing at MONP – the park is surrounded by fences and even have internal fences; there are many localities where additional water is provided in places where water is not naturally abundant throughout the year; and the large carnivore guild is largely absent. SANParks seeks to maintain, restore or mimic ecological processes such as herbivory that ensure the resilience of the Savanna-Nama-Karoo ecotone.

Since the onset of MONP, the species-specific number of individuals of large herbivore species largely varied over time primarily because of several occasions where SANParks removed individuals of several species as part of ecological management and for generating revenue.
Decision-making for the management of herbivory is based on multiple-layers of information in an attempt to mimic the outcome of ecological processes that is not fully functional due to size and landscape constraints at MONP. These layers provide the basis for recommendations on an annual basis. The approach requires regular annual surveys of large herbivores. The landscape units are used to make decisions regarding
vegetation monitoring. Vegetation monitoring plots were established, where plant species composition and density of plant species are recorded. The wheel point method is used to collect the data, and this data is used to make informed decisions on the off takes of grazers and mixed feeders found on MONP. For browsers and mixed feeders, the woody plant species composition, vegetation structure and available biomass are determined using the belt transect method as well as other associated programmes. All of the above needs to be used to assess the veld condition of each of the landscape units and to give recommendations on herbivore numbers that need to be taken off or species that need to be reintroduced.
The number of herbivores to be removed or introduced is based on a joint decision-making process between scientists, veterinarians and park management, which involves an evaluation of several herbivore population models (against trends in annual aerial survey results), satellite imagery that provides a spatial and temporal indication of vegetation quality (measured as “greenness”), vegetation surveys that incorporate the compositional and structural components of vegetation condition, and climate forecasts provided by the South African Weather Service.

[Peter Betts]

Keep in mind: The ostrich you come across and take a photo of, might be the one you are served for dinner in a restaurant then one day - that's effective sustainable use of the animals, first they attract the tourist dollars and then they are sold for food.

The Ostrich we buy in the SuperMarketand Restaurants come from the Oudsthoorn District where the Biggest Ostrich farming in the World has taken Place for a Century..The Ostrich Abbatoir is my Customer..Dont believe they come from SANParks where Cheetah and Lion keep their numbers in Check and Caracal decimate Chick herds in families