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  1. #1
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    Default A Conservationist's Cry

    I came across this video today. I did a search but couldn't see if it has been posted before.


  2. #2
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    Default Re: A Conservationist's Cry

    i did not know this video existed.
    Thanks for sharing. Great find.

  3. #3

    Default Re: A Conservationist's Cry

    I must admit that I’ve never thought about the conservation aspect of hunting- brilliant video!

  4. #4
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    Default Re: A Conservationist's Cry

    I must also admit to being a little cynical here.
    Yes,hunters contribute greatly to conservation...but...the dollar rules.
    Very,very few land owners can claim to be conservationists in the true sense of the word[and please lets not confuse conservationists with bunny huggers whose emotional drivel usually has a detrimental effect on wildlife].
    Game farms,private game reserves,Rhino reserverves ect ect are businesses that are money driven.These landowners want to maximize the earning potential of their land,nothing wrong with that.
    Take away hunting,you take away revenue.Take away revenue and you take away the animals value.Take away the animals value and the landowner will get rid of his wild animals to plant mielies to continue to earn a revenue.
    So yes,hunting ensures animal numbers as long as it pays.
    A lot of 'game farm' owners feel fuck all for the wild animals yet preach conservation...bs...money rules.

    Wildlife rehabilitation centers preach conservation like no other. Overseas kids pay big money to be allowed the 'privilege' of working at these places. Not all of them,but some i have personal experience with make big money out of their so called noble ventures.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: A Conservationist's Cry

    We humans farm chicken, pigs, sheep and cattle for consumption, is it conservation, no.
    Is the game industry different, no.
    Breeding something to kill it is not conservation, never was and never will be.
    Humans just lack the spine to call a spade a spade.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: A Conservationist's Cry

    If it pays it stays. Very few farmers are willing to sacrifice a use able piece of their land for wild animals if there was no gain in it for them. You might get 1 or 2 who has a small piece set aside as a "pet project" around his house.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: A Conservationist's Cry

    Well, then, let's stop being hypocritical and do the environmentally responsible thing and ban hunting. It has done wonders everywhere else, right?

    In all seriousness, conservation may not be the objective of most game farms, but it is a happy side effect. Now to just stop said farmers breeding special colour game, or at least, regulate it better....

  8. #8
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    Default Re: A Conservationist's Cry

    Regardless of whether you want to call them conservationists or not, game farmers and hunters have had the greatest positive impact on conservation in this country in the last 40 years.

    It's not only that GAME numbers have increased from an estimated 500,000 head of game to +-20 million head of game.
    It's not only about the bontebok, sable, roan, mountain zebra and other RARE species that have seen their numbers increase significantly because of hunters/game farmers.
    It's also about the contribution that the hunting/game farm industry makes to providing HABITAT for, not only game species, but also a host of other birds, insects, animals and plants.
    It's also about the role that the hunting / game industry plays in SOIL RESTORATION (no soil, no plants, no animals).
    There is no doubt that the fact that so many game farms now exist means a positive impact on BIODIVERSITY.
    Roughly speaking there are about 10,000 game farms covering about 20 million hectares in SA whereas our 21 odd national parks combined cover only about 4 or 5 million hectares.

    While not all hunters and game farmers are conservationists in mind and in deed, there ARE many who are. But there is no doubting the incomparable default contribution to conservation that both the conservationist hunter / game farmer and the non-conservationist hunter / game farmer makes.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: A Conservationist's Cry

    Dimitri

    I would not even try and argue the stats with you, since you probably know them better than me, and since I respect your view as a hunter and your opinion on nature I am simply going to try and explain my thoughts on the situation.

    I once said, on this forum, that if the only place an animal can exist is in a zoo, let it rather die out. Game farms are not that much different, saying that something is alive there is correct, but it’s not alive there for natural animal interaction, they don’t have natural lives, game farmers doesn’t mix their prize animals with a lion herd. It’s there for a human need, money, but other humans does not have access to it. So in essence we are saying that they are preserving it, but not for the human race or natural habitat preservation, just for themselves. Stop at a game farm, ask them if you can have a drive through it, or go for a walk, what would the answer be, F@#$ off would be relevant I believe.
    To explain it best is like saying there is gold in ford knox, it’s simply not mine, nor does it have anything to do with me, and never will.

    So what is conservation then, having people create large numbers of a product, how is that different to chicken farming? Humans cannot re-create a natural animal environment on a game farm, it’s a complex web starting from the top, predators, the problem is there are none, so we can say what we want the environment they create in the name of conservation is fake.

    I always say SA is a vast country, truly sparsely populated and humans just live in the major metropolitan areas. You can ban game farms today and in 90% of the country absolutely nothing will change.
    Take the drought we have, some of the game farms look like a desert, it’s not cattle where you can move it to the next farm or camp, they can only stay in the prescribe fences. You cannot sell it off and buy again when the drought is over like you can do with cattle or sheep, there is no citizen market for it, it’s an industry that only caters for itself. Let’s use another scenario, two small farms, one with 100 cattle and one with 100 large game animals. Both types of animals feed the soil, meaning their droppings serve as ground covering and plant growth stimulation, same small animals and bird live there. BUT, the public uses the products produced on the cattle farm, the american okes comes to use the products on the game farm, it doesn’t fulfill a need to the public in any shape or form.

    And we are not even mentioning the fact that human conservation is only based on the here and now, like most human things, small minded.
    99.99% of all species that ever lived is extinct now, that is just natural, all the animals we currently preserve will die out, we as a species will die out. If we nuke all the humans today, hell even if we kill all the large animals as well, give a few million years and the earth will fully recover, with new animals and plants. We still have another 5 billion years worth of fuel in our Sun, millions of species will come and go in that time.

    It’s perhaps the reason why whenever I am alone in the veld, the terrain, the rocks and sand, the features, I connect with it more than the plantlife, since the terrain is ancient. The karoo was once a sea, the animals I know is just something that lives there now. Most people with eyes find the desert beautiful, despite its lack of biodiversity.

    Ok it’s too heavy a subject for a Friday, still my opinion is we have a lot of people crying preservation in the name of capital, nothing more.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: A Conservationist's Cry

    All good points made here.

    @Messor, are you then saying let's forego the "effort" of game farming? I can't make out if you see it as part of "conservation" or if you are bemoaning it. You are, in my opinion, quite correct in the most technical reasoning that game farming/farmers are not there for conservation only. ECONOMICS rule like you stated.

    Just trying to figure out if you are pro/anti the effort that goes into game farming.

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