A Wildlife rancher has described the increasing numbers of white, bronze and black springbok, Golden Wildebeest and black impala on SA’s game farms as an “act of God”, dismissing allegations of inbreeding and genetic pollution.
“Golden Wildebeest was seen in the Tuli Block in 1930 while black impala occurred naturally in Limpopo,” said Gert Dry, the president of Wildlife Ranching SA, this week. “These colour variants are not the result of genetic manipulation or interference by humans. It an act of God… and poses no threat to biodiversity.”
But conservationists are concerned about the mushrooming of colour variants, on many of SA’s 10 000 game farms.
Dry said the sector supports game ranching practices to protect and reproduce natural colour variations and allow the market to dictate prices and numbers required.
“Colour variants are wrongly condemned as ‘man-made genetic manipulation’ and a ‘threat to biodiversity’. We certainly don’t promote colour variants as popular hunting specimens.
“Commercial breeding is very profitable because these animals are in high demand and fetch high prices at game auctions. The income from these sales is keeping the game industry alive. Given the scarcity of colour variations in a number of species, the prices for these animals are much higher than those of the more common colours.”
Colour variants occur naturally in the wild and make up 1 percent of the 3.5 million head of game. “Recessive genes in the gene pool of wild animals sometimes produce offspring with unusual colouring. They are not a different species, just another colour. The increase in numbers is a function of line breeding of scarce animals.”
But Karen Trendler, a wildlife rehabilitation expert, raised concern about the impact on conservation. “The breeding of colour variations is a major concern. Yes, these animals do occur – a very rare occurrence – in nature but the animals are now being bred very specifically for their colour variation.
“They manipulate genes and are breeding for the recessive genes, which are rare. Very often, this comes with other weaknesses and problems. That is why these animals are rare in the wild. An animal such as the king cheetah occurs naturally but with its beautiful colour comes a very high incidence of eye problems.
“Where do you draw the line between what is conservation with economic benefits, and what is purely commercial game breeding that may have bad side effects for conservation? Having farms of pink wild, black impala, that is not conservation, that is purely commercial game breeding.”
Numbers of white lion were “increasing unnaturally” while white blesbok are prone to predation and black springbok struggled to deal with hot summers.
The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Kirsty Brebner said in the wild, colour variants “stand out like a sore thumb”. “They’re sought after because they’re rare, and they’re rare because they don’t fit into the environment terribly well. There’s a huge price on their heads and no conservation value at all.”
Prof Graham Kerley, who heads the Centre for African Conservation Ecology at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, agreed. “Maintaining and encouraging such colour variants represents artificial selection by wildlife breeders and thus is simply a case of domestication.
“This is reflected in changing gene frequencies through artificial selection methods such as inbreeding. So the principle of domestication is contrary to conservation.”
Professor Louw Hoffman of Stellenbosch University has now been commissioned to evaluate whether colour variants pose a threat to biodiversity, examining the factors that influence colour in animals.