Friday, March 29, 2024

Green Party condemns the lifting of ban on hunting lions and leopards

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Green Party leader Peter Sinkamba
Green Party leader Peter Sinkamba

Green Party President Peter Sinkamba has condemned PF Government’s decision to lift the ban on hunting lions and leopards.

Mr Sinkamba said the decision is outrageous and too ghastly to contemplate.

He observed that the ban was initiated when conservationists warned that wildlife populations, especially the cat family were facing a greater threat than at any time since the 1980s.

‘We all know that the number of lions and other big cat species in Zambia’s major parks is depleted and limited due to poaching and other anthropogenic activities,’ Mr Sinkamba said.

Mr Sinkamba revealed that the total population of lions in the country as at 2013 was estimated to be between 2,500 and 4,700.

‘These are just crude estimates since successive governments after Dr Kaunda’s UNIP, have over the years failed to sustain a continuous wildlife census system,’ he said.

‘Much as we are aware that the PF government is facing serious budget deficit challenges, it is extremely outrageous to resort to unleashing safari hunters on to limited populations of big cat species, regardless the fact that safari hunting is allegedly most profitable.’

Mr Sinkamba has since urged Government to reverse lifting of the ban and instead come up with other revenue generating schemes.

‘This type of approach is definitely awful. Posterity will judge our generation harshly for having been responsible for depletions of rhinos, black lechwes and other species,’ Mr Sinkamba said.

Tourism and Arts Minister Jean Kapata announced the lifting of the ban at a media briefing on Friday adding that hunting of lions will only resume in the 2016/2017 season, while that of leopards can start in the 2015/2016 season.

“I am lifting the ban on the following conditions, the guidelines are drafted into a statutory instrument so that they become part of the wildlife law. Lion hunting should only resume in the 2016/2017 hunting season and not this year.

“Leopard hunting can resume this year 2015/2016 season, but with very cautionary quotas,” Mrs Kapata said.

The hunting of cats was enforced in January 2013.

8 COMMENTS

  1. For the first time Chamba Party has spoke well and eloquently on this issue. Well said brother and I hope this finds the intended which is govt. Indeed our generation will judge us has hey on this matter. We ought to be conserving for our future and for our pride in natural conservation and wild life. This indeed is awful and does not justify anything in game management. I hope to see more protest from natural conservationist across zambia

  2. Seriously this is an immoral decision. Not only disappointing but also very annoying. Jean Kapata’s excitement about the money from this scam has blinded her from reason. These animals are exotic and every level headed person should condemn the action and demand a reversal of this greedy move.

  3. Lions take 5 years to mature in the wild ,they can have 8 cubs in a year. we can have sufficient to hunt if poaching of their prey species is controlled. . which is where the money generated from humting should be channeled to.. but it is misused and stolen instead .
    let surplus animals be hunted.. lion or antelope

  4. Trophy Hunting has no place in sustainable tourism both Jean Kapata and Steven Mwansa should know if they attend UNWTO conferences as they did in Germany. Do they understand Jafari’s four tourism platforms? Do they know the relationship between sustainable tourism and sustainable development? Sustainable tourism in practice should should:
    *Stimulate awareness of tourism impacts
    *Be well planned – carrying capacities & LAC
    *Generate local employment
    *Support local businesses – linkages
    *Reduce leakages
    *Support diversification of local economies
    *Encourage local people participation
    *Improve local services
    *Support existing infrastructures
    *Respect integrity of local environment, culture people, character of the destination
    *Promote local pride
    Skills and education in…

  5. The WTO (World Tourism Organisation has 11 main indicators which Steven Mwansa and Jean Kapata should know. In case they don’t they can use Google. The 1st is Site Protection – category of site protection according to the IUCN index. 2nd is Stress – tourism numbers visiting per site. 8 is critical Eco System – number of rare endangered species. Assuming they both have diplomas and degrees in this field and know the importance of managing and maintaining indicators. They should be understandable, practical, clearly defined, reproducible, not expensive to operate and be comprehensive. UNWTO has been promoting sustainable tourism indicators since the early 1990s, as an essential instruments for policy-making planning and management processes at destinations. Trophy Hunting has no place!

  6. Can we see this woman’s diploma in Hospitality Management – Hotel and Restaurant or Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism Management? Because such drastic decisions calls for us to know whether or not she is capable of being in office to make informed decisions. We have the right to know if she can post them for all Zambians to see. Because if she doesn’t this will hurt the tourism industry and will take a long time to fix and worse if our wildlife is extinct. This is despicable and will cause many negative effects on our ecosystem.

  7. ***
    The reason they will encourage Trophy Hunting is because they profit for the ruthless killers. $68,000 to kill a healthy male lion. Hunters throw them $10,000 a month on the side to turn a blind eye. Meanwhile China is importing baby elephants through ruthless ways because they understand the need for people to enjoy wildlife. The USA is thriving with our exotic animals because they conserve and have vets 24/7 monitoring them and zoos bring in millions a year in tourism revenue. Meanwhile we have it as it belongs to us and letting foreigners come and kill it. Does it make sense? This is how developed countries manage our wildlife…the ones we don’t care about. Soon we will be flying there to see it since we won’t have any left. ***

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