Public Information bulletin No.2 (re the Minister’s HLP report)

Wildlife management is based on science and all decisions in the wildlife field should be based on scientific fact (the truth) alone. Minister Creecy has (virtually) explained that she will react to the most popular results of public opinion polls – which exposes her soft underbelly to the general public. This means she will accept public personal prejudices if there are enough of them voiced, not the truth, to guide her when she makes political decisions. Minister Creecy, therefore, is one of those politicians who believes that wildlife management decisions can be made on the basis of  a public referendum.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  South Africa needs an environmental Minister who knows what she in talking about.

In making her opinions in this regard known, Ms Creecy illustrates her lack of knowledge in the field of wildlife management.  And that is bad.

The TGA cannot believe that this state of affairs pertains. But if it does, the TGA is honour bound to make an effort to teach the Minister about the principles and practices of wildlife management. If she doesn’t know how the wildlife cookie crumbles she cannot be much use at the coal face of this country’s commercial wildlife industry. And THAT is her job.

This is a genuine offer.

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

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