A South African cvompany has been implicated in illegal leopard trade, write John Grobler and Fiona Macleod
Delegates from an international conservation agency meeting in Namibia for the past two weeks were shocked when, walking out of a popular bar in Windhoek last Thursday (April 23), they encountered a group of drunken men taunting three wild leopards in a wire cage in a bakkie.
Although their reaction is not on record, they would probably have been much more shocked had they known that the leopards had come from the very venue where they had been meeting – the upmarket Mount Etjo game lodge, property of controversial Namibian game farmer Jan Oelofse.
Members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) specialist group on the rhinoceros had gathered at Mount Etjo to discuss the future of the rhino. Had they known about the suspicion with which Oelofse is regarded in some conservation circles, it is likely none of them would have slept very comfortably at the lodge.
When the police were summoned late on Thursday night by one of the Cites group – who used their vehicle to prevent the bakkie from driving away – they established that the three leopards had been sold to Stone Safaris, a hunting, tourism and game- capture outfit based in Van Riebeeckstad in the Free State.
The two South Africans who were driving the bakkie, Willem Adriaan Nel and Johan Knoesen, were held over the weekend and found guilty in court on Monday of illegally possessing and transporting leopards. They were fined just R500 each – despite the fact that leopards are listed by Cites as an endangered species.
The commanding officer of the Namibian Protected Resources Unit, “Clarky” McKay, said this week his unit will be conducting further investigations into Oelofse’s operations.
Oelofse, a flamboyant figure usually dressed in khaki, with a hunting knife, large Colt revolver and a trademark red bandana, protested his innocence in the case.
Knoesen and Nel, among others, taunted the leopards by tossing burning cigarettes at them “to rev them up a bit”.
A veterinarian who treated the animals after they were confiscated said they showed signs of being caged for a considerable time, judging by how damaged their feet were. All three were parasite- ridden and emaciated, and one female was missing two toes, probably as a result of being caught in a gin trap. They have been moved to safety, and apparently have started recovering.
Until the early 1970s, Oelefse was a member of the Natal Parks Board, where he acquired a formidable reputation as a pioneer of game-capturing techniques, as well as for being a bit of a “loose cannon”.
Since setting up his private game farm and hunting operation in Namibia, he has become a multi-millionaire and has been accused by conservationists – including Save the Rhino Trust’s Blythe Loutit – of being party to unethical hunting practices.
Colonel Jan Breytenbach, founder of 32 Battalion and committed conservationist, said this week Oelofse had a reputation during the 1980s for buying lions from zoos and taking them to his farm to be hunted.
“I had two lion cubs which we had rescued after their mother was shot, called Rufus and Dayan. They were to be taken to Oelofse’s farm, but when I heard this, I was absolutely the hell in. Conservation [authorities] eventually placed them somewhere … where they would be safer.”
Oelefse told the Mail & Guardian he “condemned in the strongest terms the inhumane treatment” of the leopards by Knoesen and Nel.
He explained that he regularly has problems with cheetahs and leopards coming on to his 17 000ha farm and killing his game.
Although he runs a hunting operation, the $2 000 trophy fee he can raise for a leopard doesn’t cover the damage they can cause.
After he captured these three sub-adult leopards, he tried to give them away to various conservation outfits, but none would take them. “Legally, I could have killed them if they damaged my property, but I preferred to give them a chance.”
Evidence showed that Oelofse negotiated with the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism last Thursday for export permits for the three leopards. Although the paperwork had not been completed, that afternoon he agreed to the sale of the three cats – at R3 000 a piece – and allowed them to be removed from his farm.
Oelefse said that nothing about the deal was underhand, and the court case had arisen as a result of a misunderstanding.
According to the Cites rules for the export of leopards, the importer has to prove that they will not be used “solely for commercial purposes” and that he is able to ensure they will survive. Leopards exported under Cites rules may not be used for hunting purposes.
“Buks” Steenkamp, owner of Stone Safaris, was not available to answer inquires about what he had intended doing with the leopards – he was out on a hunt, his receptionist said.