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Ndhlovu the so called Endangered Elephants of South Africa – Documentary by Ron Thomson

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In 1989, at the Conference of the Parties (Cop 7 – CITES) (The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), the African elephant was declared to be an “endangered species”; and all trade in elephant ivory was banned. The motivators of these unfortunate steps comprised the international Animal Rights Brigade – which represents the biggest Confidence Industry the world has ever known. They erroneously claim that the elephant is declining in number and facing extinction. To the contrary, throughout southern Africa ALL elephant populations are exploding and now number between 10 and 20 times the sustainable elephant carrying-capacities of their habitats. So, the biggest danger to elephants – besides the existence of animal rightists – comes from the elephants themselves.

This film – shot in South Africa’s Kruger National Park – proves my point.

The elephant populations in all southern African game reserves have been doubling their numbers every ten years for the last 60 years.  Their numbers now grossly exceed the sustainable elephant carrying capacities of their habitats.  They are literally eating themselves out of house and home.  The numbers of elephants in all these sanctuaries actually represent the biggest danger to overall elephant survival – much moreso than the elephant poachers.  Furthermore,  the survival of southern Africa’s entire biological diversity is also now at risk – because there are far too many elephants! They are destroying their own habitats AND they are destroying the habitats of all the other animal species, too.

People who visit Kruger National Park in South Africa are only happy when they see lots of elephants. They don’t see, and they don’t even think about the fact, that a grossly excessive number of elephants, over many years, have destroyed ‘more than’ 95% of the big top-canopy trees in the Park; and that this fact is going to destroy the national park’s total biological diversity. This film will introduce this vitally important topic into the minds of visitors to the park for the very first time.  Kruger is currently carrying some 40 000 elephants when it should be carrying only 3 500 (+/- 500).  Everyone, therefore, is going to have to be asking the question: “What is Kruger going to do with its surplus elephants?

Southern Africa’s national parks and game reserves are legend all over the world. The time has come, however, to stop thinking “ELEPHANT” when they visit these sanctuaries.  They should start thinking “Broad spectrum of diverse animal and plant species”. Why? Because too many elephants in all our sanctuaries are destroying the biological diversities of all these parks. Because these too-many-elephants are starting to turn our wildlife sanctuaries into deserts, we must start taking a much more responsible attitude towards elephant management issues.  This film will show you “what is” in Kruger National Park and that will provide the foundation for a lot of much more responsible thought about elephant management.

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

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