Ministry defends elephant hunt

THE Ministry of Environment and Tourism has called attacks and threats directed at the professional trophy hunter of the popular Namibian elephant ‘Voortrekker’ unnecessary, saying the hunt was conducted within the confines of the law and to the satisfaction of the ministry.

The ministry released a strongly worded statement to its ‘critics’ yesterday, denouncing the “inaccurate, rubbish and false reports and assumptions” made about the elephant that was killed through trophy hunting after being declared a problem-causing animal. This comes after the killing of the alpha elephant bull, named Voortrekker, at Omatjete last week by a government-appointed hunter for N$120 000.

reported on Monday that the hunt was highly criticised by Namibian conservation and tourism groups who considered the killing a loss.

In the statement issued by the ministry’s executive director Teofilus Nghitila yesterday, they said the elephant was declared a problem-causing animal after lengthy investigations and careful monitoring, which demonstrated persistent problems caused by the elephant.

The conflict reportedly became an intolerable burden on the communities, and threatened human lives.

“The communities of Omatjete have for a long time complained about elephants causing damage to property and threatening the lives of people in their area,” Nghitila wrote.

He added that the ministry had to launch a N$4 million project to upgrade water infrastructure for those communities, and provide alternative water points for elephants in the area following damage that was observed, and the loss of a person’s life as a result of human-elephant conflict in recent years.

In defence of permitting the trophy hunting of Voortrekker, the ministry indicated that Namibia’s current elephant population stands at its highest since population surveys commenced and, according to them, show a continuous positive growth trajectory. The current elephant population is indicated to be just over 22 000.

Furthermore, Nghitila said the ministry could have hunted the elephant directly, but having it trophy-hunted was the preferred option.

“At least some revenue can be generated in the process for the relevant communities to be used in mitigating further human-elephant conflict that may be caused,” he wrote.

The ministry also said some of its critics are only vested in being advocates for elephants for the benefit of ecotourism without considering the effect of the elephant population on the communities.

“There are suggestions from our critics that we should overlook our own people’s plight at the expense of tourists to the country. This is despite the fact that our citizens have accepted to share their living space with wild animals, which most of the time destroy their properties and other sources of their livelihoods,” Nghitila said.

Nghitila added that the animal that is continuously referred to as a “desert elephant” has been misidentified in an attempt by these same critics in another tourism marketing ploy, to imply endangerment or eminent extinction of these elephants, which he said are not at risk of extinction at all, demonstrated by way of their increasing numbers.

He urged critics to allow the ministry to implement its policies and programmes on wildlife conservation, which he says are in the best interest of both the elephant population and the communities.

Furthermore, the ministry claims that some of the aggression displayed by the elephants in the area can also be attributed to human interference in their natural habitat, calling out the same NGOs for misconduct in the areas.

“[They] have no research permits for conducting research on elephants […] and they at best only have short-term local and anecdotal information to support their claims,” Nghitila stated.

The male elephant was a part of the rare Ugab herd.

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