South Africa’s experiment in ‘wildlife privatisation’ is under threat from the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures to contain it. The once-thriving game-farming industry is in serious trouble because its main sources of revenue — hunting, game viewing and sales — have been under lockdown. It is an economic meltdown that could also create an animal welfare crisis.

From a free-market perspective, there is nothing wrong with this state of affairs and its potential conservation spin-offs. If someone values wildlife, they can pay for it. The challenge now is that this bill is going to become a lot bigger, for wildlife can hardly compete for resources or sympathy in a developing economy with glaring income disparities in the face of the escalating and pressing social needs wrought by the pandemic.


https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/arti...k-of-collapse/

https://rhinoreview.org/south-africa...k-of-collapse/