The government’s proposed elephant-management regulations could hobble South Africa’s ”notorious” elephant-back tourism industry, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) said on Wednesday.
The draft rules, released for comment last week, propose stopping the capture from the wild of anything other than genuine orphan elephant calves, the organisation said in a statement.
The taking of juvenile elephants from live wild herds is the favoured source of new stock for taming and training by the elephant tourism industry. The proposed restrictions would prevent any real growth of this form of tourism.
”Currently, this is a business out of control,” said the Southern Africa director of Ifaw, Jason Bell-Leask. ”It is callous and greedy in its demands for young elephants, forcibly removing animals from their wild herds and subjecting them to training that is wrong, cruel and exploitative.
”Ifaw has long been calling for better legislation to manage the elephant-safari industry, and it seems that government is finally going to get tough on this awful blight on South Africa’s tourism landscape.
”Ideally we would like them to ban the industry altogether in the interests of elephant welfare, but also from a human safety point of view.”
Ifaw estimates that as many as 120 elephants are in use in the industry. — Sapa