THE Namibia Professional Hunting Association's president, Danene van der Westhuyzen announced at the association's annual general meeting in Windhoek yesterday that the national leopard census project is estimated to cost N$2 million.
“The project started at the end of August 2017, and will continue for the next 18 months,” she said, adding that they expect to raise the money with the assistance of government.
Van der Westhuyzen said: “The findings from the 2012 study, together with previous studies, suggest that Namibia has the highest leopard density in all of Africa – about 14 000.”
These statistics correlate with the present thinking in Namibia that an increase in the leopard population might be one of the reasons for the perceived decline in the cheetah population in the country due to the fact that leopards are in the process of taking over territories that have been cheetah habitats for decades, she explained.
Hunting is always a polarising topic, but opposition through animal rights and anti-hunting groups has been mounting over recent years.
She, however, highlighted that hunting is a crucial and precious tool in the protection and sustainable use of the country's natural resources.
Van der Westhuyzen stated that the real value for hunters from a conservation perspective should first and foremost be habitat preservation.
“This should be our highest priority, and hunting in Namibia offers this in its fullest force.”
Tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta said the human population and the wildlife population have both increased in Namibia, increasing the demand for land, space, water and grazing. Humans and wildlife have one concern in common, which is survival.
“It is this quest for survival that leads to competition for land and resources, and ultimately human-wildlife conflict,” he said.
Shifeta added that this conflict has been felt more drastically with elephants and lions, as the numbers of these species have increased over the years due to effective and innovative conservation policies and methods to deal with the rise in wildlife numbers over the past decades.
Namibia has used hunting as a tool in conservation management, leading to yet another conflict, as there are those who do not believe that Namibia should use hunting or trophy hunting as a conservation tool.
Shifeta said: “The human-lion conflict management plan makes provision for a number of conflict mitigation measures, including hunting based on solid scientific data and quota setting. Sustainable off-take quotas for north-western Namibia are calculated for the entire regional lion population, and then divided between the relevant conservancies because lions move across several conservancies, and the home ranges of all the prides overlap extensively.”
Source: https://www.namibian.com.na/62081/read/Leopard-census-to-cost-N$2-million
“The project started at the end of August 2017, and will continue for the next 18 months,” she said, adding that they expect to raise the money with the assistance of government.
Van der Westhuyzen said: “The findings from the 2012 study, together with previous studies, suggest that Namibia has the highest leopard density in all of Africa – about 14 000.”
These statistics correlate with the present thinking in Namibia that an increase in the leopard population might be one of the reasons for the perceived decline in the cheetah population in the country due to the fact that leopards are in the process of taking over territories that have been cheetah habitats for decades, she explained.
Hunting is always a polarising topic, but opposition through animal rights and anti-hunting groups has been mounting over recent years.
She, however, highlighted that hunting is a crucial and precious tool in the protection and sustainable use of the country's natural resources.
Van der Westhuyzen stated that the real value for hunters from a conservation perspective should first and foremost be habitat preservation.
“This should be our highest priority, and hunting in Namibia offers this in its fullest force.”
Tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta said the human population and the wildlife population have both increased in Namibia, increasing the demand for land, space, water and grazing. Humans and wildlife have one concern in common, which is survival.
“It is this quest for survival that leads to competition for land and resources, and ultimately human-wildlife conflict,” he said.
Shifeta added that this conflict has been felt more drastically with elephants and lions, as the numbers of these species have increased over the years due to effective and innovative conservation policies and methods to deal with the rise in wildlife numbers over the past decades.
Namibia has used hunting as a tool in conservation management, leading to yet another conflict, as there are those who do not believe that Namibia should use hunting or trophy hunting as a conservation tool.
Shifeta said: “The human-lion conflict management plan makes provision for a number of conflict mitigation measures, including hunting based on solid scientific data and quota setting. Sustainable off-take quotas for north-western Namibia are calculated for the entire regional lion population, and then divided between the relevant conservancies because lions move across several conservancies, and the home ranges of all the prides overlap extensively.”
Source: https://www.namibian.com.na/62081/read/Leopard-census-to-cost-N$2-million
