Changes ‘putting elephants at risk’

10 January 2014 first sighting of an elephant n the knysna forrest for many years. Taken by a camera set up to document leopard. Copyright : www.landmarkfoundation.org.za

10 January 2014 first sighting of an elephant n the knysna forrest for many years. Taken by a camera set up to document leopard. Copyright : www.landmarkfoundation.org.za

Published Sep 30, 2014

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Cape Town - Animal welfare groups say changes in the government’s regulations regarding the welfare of elephants could open the way for animals in the wild to be taken into captivity and for easy trade.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) says the Department of Environmental Affairs appears to be intent on removing “all welfare-based provisions relating to elephants” in its revisions of the norms and standards.

Ifaw spokeswoman Christina Pretorius said that in a meeting with interest groups, the department had said it was having difficulty in enforcing the rules.

“This has been highlighted by the recent civil charges laid regarding the four elephant calves illegally removed from the wild at Sandhurst Safaris and placed into captivity at Elephants of Eden and now Knysna Elephant Park, an elephant-back safari operator.

“Instead of addressing their shortcomings, they simply remove the pieces of the law that are being broken.

 

“There is extensive cruelty involved in the training methods used to dominate and break elephants for elephant-back riding,” Pretorius said.

Ifaw says the norms and standards were drafted in 2008 with the founding principles of preventing cruelty associated with captivity.

Environmental Affairs said the norms and standards designed to ensure the welfare and conservation of elephants and were regularly reviewed.

Since 2008, it had become aware of problems that faced owners and managers of elephants, and conservation authorities, in enforcing these norms and standards.

These included complexities of what was to be included in elephant management plans, lack of clarity on who was responsible for developing a management plan for wild elephants when the origins of the elephants were unknown, and no provision for the export of captive elephants to zoos, the department said.

Also, a Supreme Court of Appeal decision involving the SA Predator Breeders’ Association had found the minister of environmental affairs did not have a mandate to regulate ethical or animal welfare matters.

Welfare was addressed by the Animals Protection Act and the Performing Animals Protection Act, which fell under the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

It would ask this department to publish draft minimum standards for the management of captive elephants, Environmental Affairs said.

Cape Times

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