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Praise for environment minister
03/03/2008 11:07 - (SA)
Pretoria - The Elephant Tourism Association (ETA) has welcomed the environmental affairs and tourism minister's terms of the norms and standards of elephant management, it said on Friday.
"The ETA applauds the minister and his department on the exhaustive public process they recently completed leading to the issuing of the norms and standards for elephant management in South Africa," the association said in a statement.
Announcing the norms on Monday, Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said that a moratorium on elephant culling instituted in 1995 would be lifted from May 1 this year under certain conditions.
In terms of the norms and standards, culling can only be done subject to other population management options and in terms of a management plan that sets out the conditions and manner of the culling.
Referring to elephants that are kept in captivity, ETA said that although some of its diverse members included zoos as well as a circus, each member was bound "by the common goal of providing the best care" for elephants.
This followed Van Schalkwyk's announcement that there would be a ban on the capturing of wild elephants for elephant back safaris or circuses.
The association said it had already developed a draft code of conduct for its members. The draft committed itself to the norms and standards issued by the environmental affairs and tourism as well as the agriculture departments.
The code among other thing had functions such as to adopt the final document that will be issued.
ETA said it would remain committed to the care of its member's elephants and to ensure formal training for member elephant handlers.
- SAPA
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