| Government to sell wildlife on auction |
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| Written by Staff Reporters | |
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Namibia will auction six species rare and “high demand” game animals of game on 25 July to raise funds for conservation programmes. Capture teams had this week been deployed into Etosha National Park for sable and blackface impala, before being redeployed back into the Waterberg Plateau Park – where they captured rhinos and buffaloes last month – to round up giraffe.
The auction of live animals was approved by the
government to take place every two years to provide mechanism through
which revenue from wildlife auctions could be used to strengthen the
capacity of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism “to fulfil its
obligations in terms of biodiversity conservation and protected area
management”, Fanuel Demas, director of scientific services in the
ministry, said Wednesday.
Demas said eight black rhinos, five female and three male, will be sold during the auction to the held at Safari Hotel. The rhinos however will only be sold for export and not to the farming community within the country “as the entire Namibian black rhino population is being managed as a meta-population”. “Fragmented privately-owned and state owned rhino will result in biological management complications of this flagship species, which is tightly controlled through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of fauna and flora,” Demas said. 40 “disease-free” buffaloes - 28 females and 12 males – will also be sold to foreign buyers as local veterinary legislations restricted the placement of buffaloes – endemic in northern Namibia - in the southern parts of the country, Dumas said. The government will auction 90 blackface impala to local buyers to provide an opportunity for the local wildlife sector to acquire breeding stock for establishing viable populations within the suitable ranges that will be identified for this species all over the country. It will also auction 16 sables to local buyers looking for excellent breeding stock, as well as 21 giraffe. Demas said, at its last auction in 2006, the government raised about N$9.2 million, which was deposited in the Game Products Trust Fund – created specifically to channel revenue from wildlife products into conservation and community development programmes. Further information can be obtained from Louisa Mupetami at 0811278520 and Dr. Mark Jago at 0811273242. |
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