21 September 2005

South Africa has to take control measures to manage the "rapidly" growing elephant population in the country, says Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

Addressing journalists in Cape Town on Tuesday, Van Schalkwyk told said a "do nothing option is not an option."

"We need to control elephant populations in some areas," he said, adding that this would help maintain the country's biodiversity, and emphasising that the move was not about elephant hunting.

According to Van Schalkwyk, the elephant population in the Kruger National Park was increasing at seven percent each year, and doubling roughly every 10 years.

"By 2012 there may be as many as 20 000 elephants in Kruger alone, and by 2019 as many as 30 000," he said.

Various interventions recommended by South African National Parks include capture, translocation, contraception or culling.

The minister said that this would be overseen by an animal ethics committee, and that where possible animal products would be used to the benefit of local communities.

"We need to find practical and sustainable solutions that are fair to people, elephants, and our broader environment that are acceptable to the majority of our people," he said.

During the recent consultations with provincial authorities, it was established that all provinces, parks and elephant ranges face similar challenges and that there was a "pressing" need for sustainable solutions to be found.

Van Schalkwyk said the challenge of elephant management had been presented to Cabinet, which had given a mandate for the drafting and publication of norms and standards.

Experts in the Department of Environmental Affairs are to draft regulations for elephant management across the country.

This draft, Van Schalkwyk said, would be made available for public comment by the end of the year, with the goal of publishing the final document in the first quarter of 2006.

"The elephant issue has already been the subject of intensive lobbying by vocal and passionate advocates of the various management options, both locally and internationally," he said. "Therefore the consultation process will provide every stakeholder concerned with an opportunity to formally register their views."

Source: BuaNews

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