Soth Africa-Animal Rights take on farmers.
SOUTH AFRICA-ANIMAL RIGHTS GET EVERYWHERE CAUSING HAVOC.
Small-stock farmers take a stand
With farmers and animal rights organisations locked in debate about methods of controlling livestock predators, a problem animals conference in Port Elizabeth on 21 and 22 March gave farmers the chance to tell their side of the story and hear from experts and roleplayers. Roelof Bezuidenhout reports.
An open forum conference on predator management let farmers air two of their biggest complaints – that the losses they suffer from predation, particularly by black-backed jackal, are driving them out of business, and that popular ideas about managing damage-causing animals don’t work on extensive small-stock farms.
Farmers far outnumbered the green lobby at the meeting, held by organised agriculture’s National Problem Animal Policy Committee in Port Elizabeth. This was in sharp contrast to the "prevention-is-better-than cure" workshop in Gansbaai in 2006, which was dominated by conservation officials and NGOs.
The solution debate
Peter Schneekluth, a veteran in the field of wildlife damage control, said it’s time to forget theories and get practical.
"The soft option approach to predation management could spell the end of small-stock farming in South Africa," he warned. "I urge lawmakers to differentiate between green hype and reality. Carnivores kill thousands of sheep and goats every day. Ill-conceived legislation to curb control methods will only increase losses."
He ridiculed theories that persecution stimulates jackal population growth, and that protecting territorial jackal would cut stock losses. "Killing only a limited number of problem animals yearly just creates more space for others to feed and breed. Where they’ve become too many, the populations have to be hit more severely to significantly reduce predation."
Thys de Wet, another specialist in animal damage control, said much of the advice in booklets circulated by the green fraternity is "nonsense". "Statements that a hundred years of lethal control methods haven’t helped reduce livestock losses are unscientific – they’re not based on comparative figures," he said.
"Proponents of predator-friendly control don’t realise every single non-lethal method has severe environmental implications, and predators quickly adapt to them. They must also understand that wherever animals are confined by fences, humans are obliged to interfere and control populations – we can’t just let nature take its course. Even conservation areas need to be properly managed for biodiversity."
Tim Snow from the Wildlife Conflict Prevention Group, part of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, warned farmers against using toxins. "The only wildlife remaining on some farms seems to be crows and sometimes even they’re dead," he said. But Petrus de Wet, who chairs the committee, presented statistics showing that of the black-backed jackals killed in the Karoo, only 1% were poisoned.
Other speakers contested the claim that farmers are destroying the environment, claiming wildlife count and biodiversity improved considerably over the past 25 years, but predation continues even though more small mammals are found on farms than on reserves where the food pyramid, topped by lion, is still intact.
Official support needed
De Wet said he’s convinced environmental affairs and tourism minister Martinus van Schalkwyk is aware of the problems the small-stock industry faces, but appealed to the Department of Agriculture, which has so far not joined the debate, for support and help to ensure that sensible national legislation regarding damage-causing animals is put in place.
Prof HO de Waal of the African Large Predator Research Unit added, "The industry needs official, coordinated support for this problem in the same way it gets aid for stock theft and drought relief.
"The state should get involved in research, training and education to manage predators in the context of livestock and game farming, biodiversity and conservation," he concluded.
After the meeting Ernest Pringle, vice-president of Agri East Cape who farms at Bedford, told Farmer’s Weekly a legal framework allowing farmers to defend themselves against predators is crucial. "This would include the right to take action against neighbours who shirk their predator control responsibilities and could be done via the present Fencing Act," he said.
Pringle said that the main reason for the huge increase in black-backed jackals is the state’s withdrawal from the control process. "Unfortunately, this government is hostile to commercial farmers and would prefer to see us go under," he said. – Roelof Bezuidenhout
