Update
KAROO NEWS - The recent shooting and helicopter activity that residents of Graaff-Reinet observed over the past two weeks, was a part of a capture and culling program that took place in the Camdeboo National Park.
The Advertiser visited, Brent Whittington, manager of Camdeboo National Park, to explain the reasons behind this.
"Culling is a wildlife management strategy that involves the deliberate removal of a certain number of animals from a population. It is often used in national parks and conservation areas to maintain a balance between wildlife populations and the available resources in their habitats.
SANParks conducts annual/biennial aerial herbivore censuses across all its parks to provide key information to scientists and managers of the parks, thus enabling them to jointly make decisions about required management interventions.
Due to the fact that Camdeboo National Park has no large predators, the predation function is not fully functional and therefore SANParks mimics the predation function by annual herbivore offtakes of certain species to prevent vegetation and soil degradation.
The species and number of animals for offtakes are derived using a combination of methods and or sources of information which includes census figures, annual rainfall, vegetation condition assessments, etc.
In years of prolonged drought, such as has been experienced in the Eastern Cape, offtake recommendations will be more aggressive to prevent veld degradation and loss of wildlife, compared to years of good rains.
Bearing in mind that vegetation takes a long time to recover after a prolonged period of drought.
SANParks firstly embarks on live removals to reduce animal numbers through sales, relocation to other parks or relocation to other reserves as part of the Wildlife Economy, however if the number of offtakes exceeds the demand for sales and relocations, lethal removals are conducted using reputable companies which are selected following a robust tender process.
All offtake methods are non-selective and conducted throughout the Park to ensure appropriate removals across all landscapes."
Previous article: Snares a menace in Camdeboo
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