A North West game farmer has applied for a permit to breed ”zonkeys” — zebra-donkey hybrids — as an exotic attraction for canned animal hunters.
This was revealed by Minister of Environment Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk at a press conference on hunting policy recently.
The idea was to make zebras slower by cross-breeding, creating easier targets for hunters.
The farmer also wanted a permit to breed quagga-like zebras, with faded stripes, for canned hunting. Russian boars were being crossed with South African bush pigs, and the blue wildebeest with its black cousins, for the same purpose.
There are also reports of tigers being crossed with lions to create ”ligers”.
At the conference, Van Schalkwyk unveiled the report of a panel of experts on hunting, which condemned the hunting of captive-bred animals and recommended that hunting be strictly regulated.
It called for the hunting of hybrid and non-South African species to be banned. It also wants ”green hunting”, where animals are darted instead of shot, outlawed as a cruel practice.
The report may have sounded the death knell for all canned hunting practices in South Africa. Van Schalkwyk is to study the recommendations and prepare legislation to be introduced next year.
While the minister made it clear that hunting was an integral part of South Africa’s economy and even a way of life, he said the days of ”anything goes are now gone”.
The panel of experts listed some bizarre practices in the industry, stemming from the desire of some hunters for exotic trophies. These included the hunting of white lions and plans by a North West hunting operator to breed zonkeys and other hybrids.
Hybridisation of closely related species and sub-species made animals more prone to predation and diseases such as skin cancer, the experts found. Hybridisation might already have wiped out certain subspecies.
The Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network has found that hunting operations in South Africa have generated more than R3,2-million from hybrid species, including white blesbok and black and white springbok.
The report found that even though these animals ”bring significant revenue into the industry”, they did not contribute to the conservation of biodiversity.
South African hunting outfits are marketed mainly in the United States, the source of up to 70% of hunters who come to South Africa. One estimate puts the annual value of the hunting industry at R3,7-billion.
Last year, about 6 700 tourists shot nearly 54 000 animals, including 190 lions worth about R21,1-million. About 80% of lion hunts are canned, Dewald Keet from the North West Lion Breeders and Hunting Association told the expert panel.
The experts found that including exotic and hybrid species, South Africa offered the widest range of animals for hunting in the world — up to 96 species.
At least 19 alien species are hunted in the country, including fallow deer, Arabian oryx, scimitar-horned oryx, letchwe, American bison, Himalayan tahr and Russian boar. About 193 red letchwe were shot last year, generating R2,96-million in revenue.
Van Schalkwyk said he was horrified that hunters shot large animals such as rhinos with bows and arrows, leading to a slow death. ”No civilised country can allow this,” he said.
A major unanswered question is what will become of all the captive-bred animals if canned hunting is banned. One suggestion was that the animals be used for biltong or other game products.