The Zambian Government has U-turned on its announced plans to cull 2,000 hippos in the Luangwa Valley.
According to an announcement by Umlilo Safaris on the trophy hunting website, the cull was cancelled due to “a well orchestrated hate campaign against us”.
Umlilo Safaris is a South African hunting outfitter that was contracted to source clients for these hippo hunts.
Umlilo Safaris went on to say “We have already notified all the clients that have booked these hunts of the situation. Luckily this number is low.”
The planned cull, termed a ‘hippo management hunt’ was cancelled in 2016, then re-instated in 2018, before now being cancelled again.
Wild hippo numbers across Africa are under increasingly pressure with a maximum estimate of just 115,000 to 130,000 animals.
They are listed as ‘Vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature
As efforts increase to end the trade in elephant ivory, hippos are being increasingly targeted for their ivory as a replacement.
According to Born Free, the latest data confirms that in the decade to 2016, more than 6,000 hippo teeth, 2,048 hippo tusks and a further 1,183 hippo ‘trophies’ were exported to EU Member States alongside thousands of other ‘parts and products’.
In the same way we will U-turn VAT/Sales Tax, U turn on KCM, U-turn on Maize export, U-turn on street vendors, U-turn on boarding houses, U-turn on FIC report, U-turn on so called austerity measures, U-turn on reopening CBU…….
Its was obvious that the reasons for this cull was unjustifiable ….hippos always overcrowd in the dry season when the rivers and ponds shrink. Meanwhile Big Cat trophy hunting still carries on when we dont even know the number of cats out there…these officials at Tourism ministry are busy buying luxury vehicles with the little budget allocated to them.
Story says it’s the Boer Safari poachers which has stop, not PF-government.
Another scam, those PF-connected preditors have murdered alot of hippos and now they are running away when PF ask for their share, to fund Katuka by-elections.
PF screwed again like what the Mukula dealers did.
Tanzania recently auctioned off 4 tonnes of hippos tusks despite worldwide pressure; when the international ivory ban went into effect in 1990, demand for hippo ivory as a legal substitute increased. … “With the world beginning to rally around elephant conservation, there is a real risk that poaching and trafficking could shift to the ivory from hippos.”(Nat.Geo, 2018). The vast majority of legally traded hippo teeth typically end up in Hong Kong or passed through Hong Kong on their way to China and the U.S., according to a 2017 study by researchers at the University of Hong Kong. Hippo teeth are carved into sculptures, figurines, trinkets, and other ornaments, and are considered a luxury good. More than three-fourths of Hong Kong’s reported imports come from just two countries—Uganda…
and Tanzania (Nat.Geo, 2018). PF crooks saw a window of opportunity to cull these hippos remove the teeth as no one will take notice as they will say we discarded the carcass then ship them to China like they did with Mukula Trees with the signature of the minister….all the money would have been shared between these crooks even money coming back from tourism is not being invested back they are busy buying urban jeeps for senior officers.
The funny thing is that this is exactly one year since Charles Banda confirmed the the killing will go on. One has to just read the related stories section below the article.
lusakatimes.com/2018/05/29/zambia-confirms-it-will-start-culling-hippos/
Zambia has the largest concentration of hippos in the world and PF wants to auction them all under the guise of hippo management whilst exporting hippos tusks to their Chink partners ….I stated that this was a bad idea but that moron Charles Banda went to say that it was impossible to revise the decision….look at them now forever decamping the tourism industry this is why they dont achieve annual targets like in Tanzania and Kenya. Today’s tourists are supporting places were the promote sustainable tourism not trophy-hunting of big cats.
I am sure if you checked with FIC Report you will find that this Boer trophy-hunting company is connected some how to Charles Band or PS at Ministry through some transaction.
Best news of the year for me. No need for senseless killing of wildlife at the hands of foreign enterpreneurs.
If we don’t cherish and protect our resources including the beautiful creatures that were besowed upon our land then we don’t deserve to and will never rule our destiny.
My friend Nine Chale, a wise soul of the original Lusaka Times posters.
Proverbs 12:10
10 “The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”
Indeed this is the best news of the year. Followed by the president imposing austerity measures on the government. Tourism can change Zambia’s fortunes in two years. Our lovely Hippos have been saved from Barbarians.
Wild life is a source of pride to normal people. But to PF, they just see meat or corruption money whenever they see an animal. It is clear that there is a powerful force somewhere that has stopped PF madness of killing hippos. We that that voice of reasoning. For PF everything is corruption. They are not tired with mukula tree corruption and wanted to go for hippos as well. What a regime!
There is no leadership whatsoever, no vision, incompetent ministers all recipes for disaster…these are thugs picked off the streets …at least long ago we had Sylvia Masebo she had a plan of action but the corrupt elite the ones who are profiting from these hunting licenses so her as a threat so they kicked her out…they will only realize when all the animals have disappeared.
These P.F lying,.& thieving K0lwe’s even sold all Zambia’s Wild Dogs to their China Corruption paymasters, who love Wild Galu bushmeat.
THERE ARE NO AFRICAN WILD DOGS LEFT IN ZAMBIAN GAME PARKS!
The power of the internet and social media…….umlimo safaris were going to be boycotted out of business
National Geographic is on to them so they backed off, there will be some queuing who are immune to pressure like the Chinks or Russians…by the time PF is done with this country it will be stripped to the bare-bone!!
When Government announced this programme, Green Party President Peter Sinkamba stated as follows: “Culling of wildlife is not an option. It is a primitive wildlife conservation strategy. There are more sustainable measures out there. Relocation of entrapped animals is one such modern conservation tool. The trouble with our colleagues in the PF Government is that leadership with environmental consciousness is lacking though, unfortunately, they wear green colours.” It good that the PF Government has for once listened.
They have not listened the have been forced to do so because campaigners are now focusing on the trophy hunting companies …what’s stopping PF getting ZAWA to shoot the animals as a culling exercise so they can get hold of the tusks.
Lungu and his gang were just looking for bribes and corrupt money streams by way of commissions ……
Some bigwig in government must have tipped the relevant authorities that they can make a fortune when they quietly ‘cull and export’ the hippos to some foreign countries. This government is nothing but full of wrong deeds. I don’t trust their decisions
good move bane .dont kill animals