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Elephant culling 'unnecessary'
11/06/2008 21:32 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Elephant culling at the Kruger National Park is unnecessary and not a last option, the Earth organisation said on Wednesday.
Founder of the group, Lawrence Anthony, said the assertion that culling was only a last option was a method cleverly designed to try to sell the slaughter to an unwilling public.
"The decision to cull is based on emotion. Credible science demonstrates that the cull is unnecessary.
"The public is being asked to accept an unpopular decision which has no support among respected scientists. This decision would bring our internationally respected standards of animal husbandry into disrepute," he said
Professor John Skinner, former head of the Mammal Research Institute at the Pretoria University, said there was not a shred of evidence that the elephants in the Kruger National Park or elsewhere adversely affected ecosystems.
Other scientists, including Dr Ian Raper, president of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, remain opposed to culling.
"Based on studies from across Africa we conclude that science does not provide satisfactory evidence that elephants have a lasting negative effect on either animals or plants.
"It's not true that culling reduces numbers. So what purpose does it serve?" said Raper.
Scientists agreed that the many thousands of traumatised elephants that escaped death would be a danger to the millions of visitors to the Kruger National Park.
"With the huge international media interest in this matter, if just one tourist is killed or harmed by a traumatised elephant during the cull, our priceless eco-tourism industry will pay a heavy price."
- SAPA
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