IN the first part of this article I looked at how hunting played an integral role in Zimbabwean society in pre-colonial times while the invasion of early European hunters and the introduction of firearms resulted in a devastating decline of elephant populations and eventually other wildlife such as buffalo, antelope and zebra.
However, in concluding this series I look at the hunting industry and the slanted allocation of wildlife farms under the colonial regime.
Colonial management of wildlife in Rhodesia was institutionalised through various departments.
By 1964 it was streamlined into what became the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management, which became responsible for managing 14 national parks, eight game reserves and more than five controlled hunting areas.
The focus of colonial wildlife management institutions was to protect wildlife resources for the enjoyment of the white minority whether for hunting or game viewing.
In 1975, under the Parks and Wildlife Act, the colonial government accorded rights to private white land owners to manage and profit from wildlife on their land, but did not extend the powers of the Act to indigenous Africans who were prohibited from utilising wildlife of any kind.
The National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority exists today in post independence Zimbabwe, with a wildlife policy deeply rooted in colonial legislation long dominated by the minority whites.
The allocation of land for wildlife and tourism, in the face of unequal opportunities in the hunting industry has often fuelled political tension.
Such use of land by whites has raised moral questions about the appropriateness of their commitment to wildlife and tourism, as animals and foreign currency appear to be more valued than ordinary Zimbabweans.
While the private landowners have been actively engaged in shaping the wildlife policy in Zimbabwe, the majority of rural communities living with wildlife remained passive bystanders.
The African landscapes no longer teem with wild animals; the people’s relationship with the natural world has fundamentally changed and so has the romanticised nature of the hunt.
It is no longer the animals that are dangerous, but the hunter; the notion of fair chase is fast becoming outdated and, in the not too distant future, so will that of a truly wild animal.
And in a telling twist of fate, the implications which seem to have by- passed the hunting fraternity is that many of the species that remain at the top of the hunter’s wish list also happen to be potent symbols of our cultural heritage and totenism.
Zimbabwe has over the years been deprived of wildlife through illegal hunting and subsequent exportation of the trophies while the under declaration of revenues earned through hunting are clear.
It is the same hunters or organisations that are quick to point out that there is rampant poaching in the country, while in essence it is them who are illegally harvesting the country’s wildlife resources and keeping them in wildlife conservancies for captive breeding and commercial purposes.
A survey of the country’s wildlife game sanctuaries in Zimbabwean points to the fact that a majority of them are owned by private individuals, whose acquisition of those animals was free or through hunting or captive breeding.
Zimbabwean school children and the general public are later forced to pay to watch animals and visit private wild animal sanctuaries owned by these people.
As these issues are evolving, the arguments against the hunting industry are worth repeating, while the act of captive breeding is disgusting, the indefensible breeding and management practices carried out by many of those who supply the animals is abhorrent.
These include the cross breeding of species (lions with leopards) and other subspecies such as zebra and donkeys.
Animals are drugged and moved across veterinary boundaries, species are introduced far removed from their natural environments and are even stolen from national parks for their breeding potential.
They are often kept in cages and confined enclosures, in the case of predators.
The hunting industry network extends beyond the fences and includes numerous facilitators- the annual auctions, vets and relocation companies, and the authorities who issue permits.
What is taking place is human over natural selection and has everything to do with exploiting wild animals for financial gain, and this happens because there is a vast market of hunters to pay substantially to obtain animal trophies.
Although the conservation flag is flown to ensure public and government acceptance, some of these private breeding farms only breed trophy animals to be shot or sold on auction to animal enthusiasts.
An inventory of the exact numbers of large predators in captivity does not exist and compiling information on these industries is very difficult as a number of organisations are reluctant to divulge such information, while some breeders are not registered and operate illegally.
If hunters hunt for reasons they say they do, then there is no need to brag and there is no need to target the prime breeding animals.
If the removal of such actions is not sufficient to curb the abuse, then the next step would be an outright ban all trophies leaving the borders of Zimbabwe, after all they are part of Zimbabwe’s heritage, they should remain as non tax deductible donations to thousands of schools, colleges, universities and museums across the country that cannot afford such educational exhibits.
While hunting has helped us acquire food and clothing, the rewards of the hunt have been stretched beyond our need for protein and protection.
Skins, tusks, horns, teeth and shells became good for barter, then a measure of wealth and status.
The leap from the pot to trophy accelerated with colonisation where shooting large numbers of wild animals was accepted as an occupational necessity.
In the slaughter that took place, some hunters collected specimens for museums and private natural history collections, but many pursued hunting as a quixotic diversion, this in essence, spawned what is today a multimillion dollar hunting industry that targets anything from doves to elephants.
A more recent example is how a network of foreigners connived with villagers to poison elephants in the country’s largest animal sanctuary, the Hwange National Park last year.
The incident left more than 100 elephants dead and other animals in the food chain.
The incident observers say was meant to sway the international community on the successful hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) meeting in the resort town of Victoria Falls, but they failed.