Trophy hunters have received guidelines from Ministry of Tourism’s and Arts’ Department National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) as a measure to direct and regulate hunting of big cats.
This follows Tourism and Arts Minister Jean Kapata’s lifting the suspension on hunting of big cats in May last year to allow it in this year’s hunting season.
In a speech read for her at the cat hunting training workshop at Lusaka’s Cresta Golfview Hotel by Tourism and Arts Permanent Secretary Stephen Mwansa, Ms Kapata noted that Trophy hunting contributes significantly to wildlife conservation and to the socio-economic well being of our people.
She asserted that the hunting is one of the conservation tools and a good example of successful private-public partnerships that sustainably support the conservation of wildlife in Game Management Areas (GMAs) in Zambia.
The Minister said that without trophy hunting, most of our wildlife in GMAs could have been decimated by now.
She noted that hunting plays a very critical role in protecting the wilderness in GMAs and therefore, ecosystem provide goods and services the wilderness to our people.
Meanwhile, DNPW Director Paul Zyambo said in 2012 Zambia instituted a moratorium on cat hunting because there was no proper system in place to ensure that cat hunting was sustainable.
Leopard hunting resumed last year and this year 2016, lion hunting will re-open in following a three-year moratorium.
The conditions the minister set for lifting the ban on cat hunting were to set a cautionary quota, hunt old lions with diminished biological function and to develop guidelines on lion hunting.
He said DNPW has a maximum quota of 24 lions for the year. The basis of issuing the quotas was prey availability and quotas based on land area at a rate of one lion per 1000 square kilometre in prime hunting areas and 1 lion per 2000 square kilometre in secondary hunting areas.
The cautionary quota the department is following is the lowest the country has issued in the last fifteen years. It is critical that we continue to follow a cautionary quota until we are satisfied that the measures we have put in place will not harm the population.
Among the among the guidelines is that the professional hunters are only allowed to hunt lion of six years and above and that no female lions will be hunted.
There are also penalties for hunting under-aged lions and female which including lifting of hunting licenses for erring hunters.
What pleasure is derived from hunting animals? the whole thing should just be banned permanently, there are other ways of earning forex.
Kill all the animals.
If animals find us they will kill us too.
We are at war with them. Kill them all for all I care – as a matter of fact kill dogs, cats and anything ugly.
Thanks
Bb2014
Leave our Lions alone. Cant you just increase tax on mining companies, on alcohol and tobacco?
STOP! why are these tourists killing our animals in the first place?
They have finished Killing Blacks in America
Very barbaric sport. This should be discouraged just like cadre violence is being discouraged
In the UNIP era the party’s identify and symbol was “ulukasu” meaning; we needed to take Agriculture seriously. Indeed unless we Zambians take ubulimi seriously, what happened in Etheopia those years gone-by when millions of pipo perished shall look like children’s picnic.
the lifting of this ban is to cover the sheer incompetence of this hopeless tourism minister , kapata. Tourist numbers have been in decline so she issues hunting licenses to kill our majestic big cats to boost revenues. There is no need for this with a well managed and advertised game heaven like Zambia.
While tourist numbers are in decline, what is jean Kapata concentrating on—making and promoting street festivals in livingstone.
What a hopeless minister.
mushota walishiba ati ibange balakaka? mushota please stop smoking twapapata. how would we people be at war with animals? weed niikali zoona.
Dont do this please we are pleading with you GRZ
The quote for this year’s big CAT hunting is 24. What fees are paid to kill a lion? Tis ban should have continued for another 2-3 years to increase the lion population. May the Department of wildlife tell us the current lion population. There are better ways of raising money like viewing the lion in the wilderness than killing them for their trophies.
They dont know…how would they know about lions when they couldnt even know how much maize we had in stock!
We must love nature and take care of it. Not killing …thou shall not kill…We r killers, to sign for such…
this is very cruel and must be banned right now!
But reporters please – is it a quota or is it guidelines? There’s a big difference
Very bad decisions here
24 to many!!!!!!!!
Its very sad that we have this caliber of leaders today like this utterly dull woman Jean Kapata…she has no clue about sustainable tourism and that there is more money to be made from shooting with a camera in the longterm than what is in that sickening photo.
And someone we tell me i shouldnt involve Edgar in this
Ba Minister please go out there and establish the truth about the Lion population. I live and work as a guide in South Luangwa and I can assure you that the population of Lions has drastically reduced in recent years due to excessive hunting and snaring. Promote Photographic Safaris as it is deemed a lot more sustainable compared to hunting.
She is too usless and lazy to contemplate that. Hunting is quick money for her.
That is what you get when you have illitrate people in key ministries. Tourisim is supposed to be the backbone of our economy together with agriculture, but this illitrate minister sees more value in promoting Street festervals and parties in livingstone then serious tourisim.
This is a minister who would rather go out and campaign for PF than do that…she doesnt know the effects of shooting pride males with manes like in that picture; rival males take over the pride and kill all the cubs to mate with the females…so you are not only taking out one animal. Surely you would rather some foreigner kills your animal and sticks it on his lounge wall.
How does killing 24 Lions this year benefit Zambia as a whole? Will you stop this madness and preserve our natural treasures, abundant wildlife is much more valuable than the useless change these foreigners are throwing at you. Come to Yosemite Park and see if they will let you hunt their wolves or Cougars. We can be stupid as a people, unacceptable!!!
If 10 000 Zambians penned signatures and sent them to the president, this would be stopped. Zambians today though, do not have the fighting caliber our brave grand parents and great grand parents hard when they fought the British. We can put this on facebook like they did for cecil the lion.
There are more than 10, 000 people living in all Zambia’s Game Management Area’s (31% of Zambia’s rural land mass) that live with wild animals who would not share you ill informed opinions about lions and elephants that destroy their crops, live stock and even kill them as you enjoy watching National Geographic in the comfort of your urban homes. Sustainable hunting plays an important role in conservation as it directly contributes revenue to the very communities that bare the brunt of wildlife and taking away the value of the animals would result in unnecessary wasteful retaliatory killings of animals by communities and increased poaching.
24 lions is 24 lions too many. Lions have dwindled throughout their range across Africa and there are probably fewer than 20,000 in total in the wild. Male lions are vital as pride protectors – killing the pride male disrupts the whole pride and when a new male moves in the cubs are killed. So each male taken out ensures the death of several more. How many hunters want an old lion? They will shoot the biggest and the best – thus ensuring unnatural selection and weakening the gene pool.
There are far better ways to ensure conservation than allowing bloodthirsty hunters to shoot your most precious resource. Eco tourism brings in far more money. When all the lions are gone – who will bother to visit Zambia then?
It is about time all bankrecords are checked on people in powre.Ministers,officials,etc.
Time that africans step up and protest about incompetent leaders that thinks with their wallet
Well I won’t visit your country because I like seeing animals alive. ONLY 24 lions to be hunted?? Your ‘facts’ that hunting is contributing to conservation are lies. What percentage exactly is going to conservation? Only a few people are seeing the financial benefits of trophy hunting, and those few are enriching themselves on the backs of our wildlife. BANKING ON EXTINCTION. You do realise that this is our African Heritage? Who gives you the right to kill our African Heritage?
As Africans, we have the right to do as we wish with OUR animals. Where are your animals in Europe if I may ask.
Apparently man will not be happy until they have eradicated the planet of ALL wildlife. Hunters have taken over and its the rest of us who suffer the effects of their thirst of blood and the psychotic desire to have a dead animal head and in some cases entire bodies in their home. Hunting should be stopped worldwide and allow wildlife to replenish itself. Then a decision should be made, and NOT by hunters, hunting organizations or politicians who are bought and paid for by hunters.
The canned hunters in Safari Club pay off state officials to get access to the LIONS.
Like Cecil- they cannot help themselves. How has well regulated hunting worked out so far?
They are pathetic carcass collectors. Tick Tock
How many lions does Zambia have? Not enough, lion numbers in Africa are down from 200,000 in 1960 to less than 20,000 now, IN THE WHOLE OF AFRICA!
How do you age a lion older than 6 years? Ask him his age before you shoot it with a high powered rifle!
What type of person want to kill an animal and nail its head to a wall?
Eco tourism is the future, wake up, evolve its the 21st Century,
That is 24 too many. Killing is NOT conservation. Leave the lions alone. Find another way to make money.
Great! No under-age girls… no under-age lions! Guess Ima be havin’ a chat with leo before I give ‘im a shot! LOL
The hunters have fed this s-t-u-p-i-d brainless f*u*c*k lies and she swallows it. When is killing lions conservation when we don’t have much left? She has noting but f*a*r*t*s in her r*e*t*a*r*d*e*d brain. She should go to h*e*l*l! That mop she wears on her heard is too tight and someone needs to pull it off. What she is quoting is what the basungus said on a YouTube video. She has no shame is using someone else’s words while trying to make herself look intelligent. Ask her tough tourism related questions and see if she can even utter a word.
Brainless government this angers me so much. How about we kill off politicians who are unable to think. Me thinks 24 a year maybe a good number
Wildlife is Africa-without Wildlfe Africa is nothing. The Big 5 have always attracted tourists to come to Africa to see these magnificent giants in
the wild–alive and free.
When do hunters every adhere to rules/guidelines—-greed and money rule the heartless.
there is too much misunderstanding about hunting. harvesting of a few animals (1%) to get money to protect 99% is beneficial to the country and for the poor people living in Game Management Areas who have no jobs and hunting is a source of jobs and money for them. do not be selfish, Photo tourism only happens in few areas and in national parks not in GMAs were people are.
@wildlife lover
I agree with you, to much miss information out there. people think everything will be killed. no its just a few. just like when you have a cattle farm , you can harvest a few cattle to sale otherwise your farm will collapse. a few old lions that would have been a danger to people because they are chased from pride is ok to sacrifice to protect the larger number and people. just ZAWA needs to make sure hunters shot only old lions and not young one or lionesses.
Zambia is destroying her National Treasures – her Wildlife! Twenty-four Lions is 24 too many. Plus, trophy hunters do not obey rules!
People! The problem we have at hand is people with no brains running this sector. Someone educated would not need to kill animals to make money for this sector. This is something that was practiced in the 1960’s and brainless people run to it because it worked God knows when ago. This is proof there is clearly a lack of education in this sector. Fire the one running this sector before she kills every living thing.
Oh, it’s the “conservation” excuse. Anything to make a few bucks, right “Minister?” Why don’t you just kill them all and start selling off something else endangered. You’re sickening.