The Scottish Marchig Animal Welfare Trust, which offered to fund the humane removal of tahrs from Table Mountain, says the trust it put in South African National Parks was misplaced.
Les Ward, managing trustee, said there was no logical reason for killing the animals when a viable, non-lethal alternative existed and he has urged the manager of the Table Mountain National Park, Brett Myrdal, to reconsider.
He said that never in the 25 years which he had been involved in conservation and animal welfare matters had he been treated with such discourtesy by another organisation.
The trust had been negotiating with an area manager of the park, who gave assurances that the tahrs would not be killed.
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Weekend Argus has a copy of an email sent to Ward by the manager on March 18 which says: "There is no truth in the fear that any tahr is to be shot next month. We are willing to enter into partnerships with organisations and civil society who will sponsor the costs for live capture on foot, sterilisation and transport to private game parks under SANParks and Provincial veterinary protocols."
But two months later, National Parks went ahead with shooting tahrs without even informing the trust.
Earlier this month, Adrian Gardiner, owner of the Shamwari Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape, said he was more than happy to take the tahrs to his Sanbona Wildlife Reserve near Barrydale, provided the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board issued a permit.
Chief executive David Daitz responded by saying it would be irresponsible to issue a permit to move an alien animal to the Little Karoo and that it went against every conservation principle.
Yet animal rights groups point out that nature conservation departments around South Africa issued thousands of permits for a range of exotic species to be imported into the country every year for the traditional and canned hunting industries and for breeding programmes.
Among the alien animals which have been brought in are white Bengal tigers, panthers, pumas, scimitar oryx, Barbary sheep and white fallow deer.
Chris Mercer of Friends of the Tahr also pointed out that in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, all organs of state were obliged to promote public involvement and to consult with the public in making decisions.
Yet, he said, National Parks deliberately and unlawfully acted to stifle public dissent.
In the minutes when parks members met to discuss the eradication of the tahrs, it stated that "the public will be informed via the press, rather than consulted on the issue".
It was also agreed that sambar and fallow deer would be removed and that the shooting of these species should start.
- This article was originally published on page 6 of Cape Argus on May 23, 2004
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