A True Green Alliance Submission: Re Hunting Trophy Imports to the U.K.

Several weeks ago I submitted a report on this subject from the TRUE GREEN ALLIANCE (South Africa) (TGA) for which I received an acknowledgement from you – and for which I again thank you.

Yesterday, however, I received the attached brilliant submission to you from Stephen Palos, CEO of the Confederation of Hunting Associations of South Africa (CHASA) – and I have to admit that I couldn’t have done better no matter how hard I tried.  Mr. Palos repeatedly hit the nail on the head when he was explaining the South African situation – indeed, the southern African situation – on this subject, to you.  So I will not try to justify his submission lest I detract from its impact.  Suffice it to say that I commend his report to the British government and to the British people in the strongest possible terms.

There are major differences between the wildlife cultures of most nations in the world today, each one reflecting each country’s ‘national preference attitude’ to their own wildlife and to their own beliefs and desires with regard to how it should be managed.  The American wildlife culture, for example, is what the Americans themselves call ‘anti-market hunting’ because, in America wild game (wild game-animals and wild game-birds) cannot be bought or sold.  It is illegal to make a single cent from a legally hunted white-tailed deer, for example, anywhere in America (except in Texas – where different rules apply).  This is why you cannot buy any kind of indigenous-game meal in America – like venison or goose – even in the poshest of posh restaurants.  Even the ‘use’, by a member of the public, of a road-kill grey squirrel is forbidden.

South Africa’s wildlife culture is different.  It cannot be described as anything but ‘wholly commercial’.   The South African wildlife culture, therefore, is the anti-thesis of the American wildlife culture – never-the-less it is still just as legal.  And it has been hugely successful.  As Mr. Palos has explained.  Even   though the South African wildlife culture has been in operation for less than 30 years South Africa’s wildlife stocks (because of its new and commercial wildlife culture) have increased 40-fold.  South Africa’s commercial wild culture came into operation in 1991 (when the Game Theft Act of 1991 was promulgated). It has been criticised by many because of its commercial orientation.  But it works for South Africa.  Indeed, it has been HUGELY successful.

Great Britain’s wildlife culture fits ‘somewhere’ between the American and the South African wildlife cultures.  In the U.K., every year, the carcasses of millions of captive-bred-and-released but ‘hunted’ pheasants and partridges – and a great many hunted wild pheasants, wild Red Grouse and wild Grey Partridges – and wild rabbits – are sold to the general public every year.  And it is all legal.  Furthermore, this style of British ‘wildlife culture’ has been accepted by the British general public as ‘normal’.  Never-the-less, these British wildlife management practices have also been criticised by the same people that are opposing hunting practices in South Africa  today.  Both country’s wildlife cultures have been opposed by the international animal rights brigade whose purpose in life is to abolish all animal ‘uses’ by man (including hunting, making money out of wildlife, and the keeping of pets).

Most people around the world, it seems, do not understand why wildlife in South Africa (or anywhere else) should be a commercial commodity.  But it is!  And because it is, wildlife throughout southern Africa is prospering like it has never done before.  And there are very good reasons why that should be so – but those reasons, seemingly, are not acceptable to most people in the West. This is so, probably, because of the American wildlife cultural belief (that wildlife, morally, should have no commercial value whatsoever) appeals to Western nature-loving people; and they  want to see that same ‘ethic’ applying all over the world.  But it doesn’t – because every country in the world practices its own unique wildlife culture (for its own very good reasons).  And that fact includes Great Britain.  Nevertheless, it is most desirable that the different nations of the world should start to understand and to honour the wildlife cultural differences that exist between nations.  THAT is how it should be.  But that is how it isn’t. And Great Britain, it seems, is one of those Western states that is right now contemplating NOT honouring South Africa’s wildlife culture; a wildlife culture that has evolved as a consequence of South Africa’s unique historical circumstances; and a  wildlife culture which best suits South African conditions in the modern day and age.

Wildlife management (a.k.a. conservation) is a science.  It deals with ‘the truth’.  It deals with ‘facts’.  It rejects ‘emotional and personal preference opinions’.  Wildlife management is concerned with maintaining natural ecosystems (even those 10 000 ecosystems comprising South Africa’s individual game ranches) in states of ecological balance.  It manages the well-being of different species-populations collectively – sanctuary by sanctuary; and it applies consideration of a species’ viability individually.  It particularly deals with the critical balance that exists between the soil, the plants, and the animals.  Wildlife management decisions, therefore, cannot be obtained from any kind of public referendum – of which, unfortunately, this ‘consultation’ is a good example.

I trust that this second submission will provide you with some greater insight into the machinations of that which we all call ‘conservation’.

With kind regards

Ron Thomson   CEO – TGA

Ron Thomson

I am NOT a ‘trophy hunter’ - and never have been. I am not involved in the trophy hunting safari business. I am also not a game rancher. But I have ‘administratively controlled’ professional hunters and safari outfitters in my capacity as a government game warden. I am an 80 year old ex-game warden with 60 years of continuous experience in hands-on wildlife management, and national park management, in Africa (1959 to 2019). In breakdown, I have 24 years experience in the management of national parks in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe - and in the management of the wild animal populations that lived inside those national parks; one year as the Chief Nature Conservation of the Ciskei in South Africa; three years as Director of the Bophuthatswana National Parks Board in South Africa; and I worked for three years as a professional hunter in the South African Great Karoo (taking foreign hunters on quests for plains game trophies). I discovered, however, that professional hunting was not my forte. I worked as an investigative wildlife journalist for 30 years in South Africa. I have written fifteen books and hundreds of magazine articles on the subject of wildlife management and big game hunting in Africa. Five of my books are university-level text books on wildlife management. I am a university-trained ecologist; was a member of the Institute of Biology (London) for 20 years; and was a registered chartered biologist for the European Union for 20 years. I have VAST experience in the “management hunting” of elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards and hippos (as part of my official national park work in the control of problem animals); and I pioneered the capture of black rhino in Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Valley (1964 - 1970). My university thesis was entitled: “The Factors Affecting the Survival and Distribution of Black Rhinos in Rhodesia”. Look at my personal website if you want any further details about my experience: www.ronthomsonshuntingbooks.co.za.

Ron Thomson has 280 posts and counting. See all posts by Ron Thomson

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.