SANPARKS SNUB INDIAN DELEGATE AS US CAPTURE EXPERT ARRIVES IN SA.

[Guest guest]

Disseminated at the request of Friends of the Tahr

Roger Gould-King

 

 

 

FRIENDS OF THE TAHR tahrs; www.raptor.co.za/tahrs

(a voluntary association being converted to a section 21 company)

PO BOX 2324

CLAREINCH 7740

CAPE TOWN

SOUTH AFRICA

PRESS RELEASE: 10 SEPTEMBER 2001

SANPARKS SNUB INDIAN DELEGATE AS US CAPTURE EXPERT ARRIVES IN SA.

THE fourteen month campaign waged by Cape Town based Friends of the Tahr to save the remaining Himalayan Tahrs (wild mountain goats) from being killed on Table Mountain has taken a further twist as James Innes, the renowned US based New Zealand helicopter net gun capture expert, arrived in Cape Town today . Also expected to arrive in Cape Town this Wednesday is Indian Government delegate, Vishwas Sawarkar, Dean of the Wildlife Institute of India, to join James Innes on a site inspection. Mr Sawarkar and Mr Innes are coming to combine their collective capture knowledge with a view to humane alternatives to killing.

Innes, whose company Helicopter Wildlife Management has captured over 17000 wild animals including elk, bears, moose and mountain goats in mountain country in the US and elsewhere is here to meet with interested parties, donors and the media and to do a site visit including by helicopter. His work has been featured in National Geographic and has been highly commended by many US National Parks.

SANParks' initial reaction however is to refuse unequivocally to meet either Mr Sawarkar or Mr Innes. The reason given to the Public Protector's Office (who are investigating the issue) is that neither SANParks nor the Dept of the Environment and Tourism officially invited Mr Sawarkar to South Africa, despite several requests from India in relation to the visit. This represents a snub to India, whose Minister of Social Justice, Maneka Gandhi wants the tahrs' lives spared and for them to be returned to India, where they are endangered. Not only will they not co-operate with India but Mr Msimang reportedly reaffirmed the intention to resume killing the remaining few when SANParks' self imposed 6 month time limit on the moratorium expires on 1 October.

With Sanparks running down the clock on the moratorium, India has sent their delegate anyway.

There are very few left on Table Mountain . A 1 1/2 hour helicopter flight organised by Friends of the Tahr last Friday ,using an independent vet as game counter and a very experienced game capture pilot counted only 7 (seven) live tahr on Table Mountain. SANParks and some media reports claimed, at the beginning of the moratorium, that there were at least 60-100 left alive after last year's killing. Even allowing for a generous margin of error this estimate would appear to be highly questionable.

Earlier this year SANParks insisted that they will not pay one cent towards anything other than killing the tahrs. Friends of the Tahr believe that this latest incident is further evidence of Sanparks' irrational and obstructive behaviour and is not conducive to the constructive dialogue which Sanparks promised it would enter into in terms of the legal undertakings given to our attorneys in March this year.

Tahrs are an endangered species. There are only about 2000 left in various sanctuaries in India, and 12000 - 15000 or so in New Zealand, where they are also being exterminated as part of their government's anti-alien purge. Tahrs were introduced to South Africa over 100 years ago and the species has lived on Table Mountain for nearly 70 years.

This issue is not just about tahrs but much bigger issues of transparency, accountability,ethical conservation and the acceptance of all animals as sentient beings regardless of their origin. Documents in the possession of the Friends show that the resolution of the tahr issue has far less to do with the animals and their supposed impact than with SANParks' fear of setting a precedent for their future treatment of animals, and their equal determination to head off any challenges from the public.

Friends of the Tahr will continue to insist on a humane alternative. Brutal, lethal action is inconsistent with the aspirations of our Constitution. There are very few tahrs and non lethal methods of managing them are available, whether capture or contracepting the females (which experts confirmed to SANParks is doable if the will is there to do it, but they rejected last year). SANParks' refusal to accept this fact is purely and simply a reflection of their wish to continue to assert their authority, unchallenged. Tragically the tahrs are merely scapegoats in this bigger picture.

Friends of the Tahr are running a fundraising appeal for the tahrs. Please contact tahrs or 082 8294153 or 083 5301541 for details, which are also on our website www.raptor.co.za/tahrs .