Leopards are endangered species!
Jun 11, 2007
SIR —I read with dismay the story about lifting the ban on leopard hunting in Uganda (The New Vision, June 8). Leopards are some of the endangered species, not only in Uganda but elsewhere in the world. According to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) the proponent of the hunting proposal, Uganda
SIR —I read with dismay the story about lifting the ban on leopard hunting in Uganda (The New Vision, June 8). Leopards are some of the endangered species, not only in Uganda but elsewhere in the world. According to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) the proponent of the hunting proposal, Uganda has a paltry 2,700 leopards.
The officials have not undertaken systematic studies to analyse their biological recruitment, neither have they assessed the impact of hunting stress on the leopard’s reproductive behaviour.
As professional as I assumed UWA to be, that is the least they should have done before pushing their regrettable proposal to CITES.
Basic ecological science reveals that stress inhibits biological recruitment. We have already witnessed such responses with the Mountain Gorilla in the southwest of the country.
The unresearched proposal to sport-hunt 28 leopards out of Uganda’s protected areas is tantamount to professional negligence and abuse of public trust on the part of UWA.
There is no merit in the assertion that lifting of the ban will enhance community support for conservation. No Ugandan will afford to pay $50,000 to kill a leopard.
Therefore, only foreigners will ‘enjoy’ the sport. On the other hand, local communities will continue experiencing vermin attacks and violent deprivations from protected area resources.
Moreover, it is doubtful whether UWA will repatriate and share part of the accruing sport-hunting revenues with local communities bearing the cost of wildlife conservation.
At its extreme end, the proposed sport-hunting could trigger increased resentment and poaching from the adjacent communities, as they may take it that after all, the government has sold yet again, another natural resource to foreigners!
Not so long ago, the government made a contestable decision to de-gazette Mabira tropical rain forest and degrade it into a sugarcane plantation.
Before the dust has settled down, here we have UWA, having the audacity to suggest an equally ecologically detestable action.
The sport-hunting proposal, moreover at a time we are still fuming over Mabira, is not what Ugandans expected from an institution entrusted to protect and conserve the country’s endangered species.
Once again, we feel betrayed that those who manage public resources in trust for the Ugandan people are the ones to propose their cheap, selfish give-aways.
The intended sport hunting is reminiscent of a laying chicken, which devours its own eggs! There are so many things to pray for in Uganda.
Denis Mutabazi
United Nations Development Programme,
Kabul, Afghanistan
The officials have not undertaken systematic studies to analyse their biological recruitment, neither have they assessed the impact of hunting stress on the leopard’s reproductive behaviour.
As professional as I assumed UWA to be, that is the least they should have done before pushing their regrettable proposal to CITES.
Basic ecological science reveals that stress inhibits biological recruitment. We have already witnessed such responses with the Mountain Gorilla in the southwest of the country.
The unresearched proposal to sport-hunt 28 leopards out of Uganda’s protected areas is tantamount to professional negligence and abuse of public trust on the part of UWA.
There is no merit in the assertion that lifting of the ban will enhance community support for conservation. No Ugandan will afford to pay $50,000 to kill a leopard.
Therefore, only foreigners will ‘enjoy’ the sport. On the other hand, local communities will continue experiencing vermin attacks and violent deprivations from protected area resources.
Moreover, it is doubtful whether UWA will repatriate and share part of the accruing sport-hunting revenues with local communities bearing the cost of wildlife conservation.
At its extreme end, the proposed sport-hunting could trigger increased resentment and poaching from the adjacent communities, as they may take it that after all, the government has sold yet again, another natural resource to foreigners!
Not so long ago, the government made a contestable decision to de-gazette Mabira tropical rain forest and degrade it into a sugarcane plantation.
Before the dust has settled down, here we have UWA, having the audacity to suggest an equally ecologically detestable action.
The sport-hunting proposal, moreover at a time we are still fuming over Mabira, is not what Ugandans expected from an institution entrusted to protect and conserve the country’s endangered species.
Once again, we feel betrayed that those who manage public resources in trust for the Ugandan people are the ones to propose their cheap, selfish give-aways.
The intended sport hunting is reminiscent of a laying chicken, which devours its own eggs! There are so many things to pray for in Uganda.
Denis Mutabazi
United Nations Development Programme,
Kabul, Afghanistan