The Kruger National Park is expected to announce a massive elephant culling programme after the latest census showed the population has doubled since the controversial practice was suspended in 1995.
An aerial survey conducted last August estimated there were 13Â 500 elephants in the national park and close to 15Â 000 in the greater Kruger region, including the private reserves on the unfenced western border of the park. Culling regimes before the suspension kept the Kruger population at about 7Â 500.
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk lifted the 13-year moratorium on culling last week when he announced the National Norms and Standards for Elephant Management, which apply to both public and private reserves. In terms of these new regulations, culling could start as soon as this winter.
Kruger managers have to submit an elephant-management plan for approval by the minister after the norms and standards are officially promulgated on May 1. Observers said last week they expect this to be based on a management plan drawn up in 2000 that recommended culling between 400 and 1Â 000 elephants a year for at least five years.
”We can definitely expect culling to take place this winter — if not in the Kruger, then in the smaller public parks,” said Michelle Pickover from Animal Rights Africa. ”To date, neither the minister nor any of the pro-culling lobby has been able to produce one shred of evidence to show that there is an ethically or ecologically defensible reason to kill even one elephant in South Africa.”
Bruce Page, a scientist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal who contributed to the norms and standards, questioned this week whether it was accurate or relevant. ”The number of elephants in Kruger may have increased, but so what? History shows that culling in the park did not have an impact on trees.”
Managing only elephant numbers and ignoring the effects of other animals such as impalas was futile, he explained. ”Managers who want to start culling elephants have to get past the fact that we still don’t know whether it has an influence on biodiversity.”
At the briefing at which the resumption of culling was announced South African National Parks (SANParks) officials said they were uncertain whether culling would be necessary in the Kruger, but there was a crisis as a result of overpopulation in smaller parks. Provincial reserves such as Madikwe in North West and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi reserve in KwaZulu-Natal were mentioned.
The Kruger management plan, drawn up in 2000, which SANParks resubmitted to the minister for consideration in mid-2005, divided the park into six zones. It recommended the culling of elephants in botanically sensitive areas in the north and south of the park, while in central zones elephant herds would be allowed to grow unhindered.
Wanda Mkutshulwa, head of communications at SANParks, said the management plan would have to be revised.
”Until the management plans have been completed, we cannot say with certainty what will happen and where,” she said. ”Because there has been no culling in national parks since 1995, the decision to go ahead with culling will take time as sufficient time and consultation is necessary to prepare for such an operation, should the need arise.”
When culling was stopped in 1995, SANParks stated the abattoir in Skukuza that had been used for processing elephant carcasses would be closed down.
Responding to recent claims that the abattoir was to be re-opened in anticipation of culling, Mkutshulwa said: ”It has always been open for purposes of processing carcasses mainly from our research projects — for example, research on buffalo bovine tuberculosis.
”The abattoir currently has the capability to process the odd elephant which has been removed because of reasons like causing damage. We have been making an assessment to bring it up to standard to be able to deal better with the processing of buffalo — so that a return could be earned on the buffalo carcasses, but funds required for this have not been sourced as yet.”
Van Schalkwyk acknowledged the sensitivities about culling, referring to issues of elephant population management as ”devilishly complex”.
”Our department has recognised the need to maintain culling as a management option, but has taken steps to ensure this will be the option of last resort that is acceptable only under strict conditions,” he said.
Culling would only be allowed for cohesive family groups and it would have to be done in a quick and humane manner. Scoline, the asphyxiating drug previously used, was banned and only rifles with a minimum calibre of 0,375 inches would be used.