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Summary of full report
by Karen Higginbottom and Narelle King, Wildlife Tourism International
December 2006
RIRDC Publication No 06/046 RIRDC Project No TA034-56
Executive Summary
What this report is about
This report critically examines
the commercial live trade in free-ranging wildlife that operates within
South Africa, and draws out implications for the development of any such
future trade in Australia.
The report relates to the situation applying in South Africa in mid-2004.
Background
In Australia, landholders
who wish to obtain live wild animals for commercial (or even noncommercial)
purposes are often severely constrained by the current policy and legislative
environment. The latter has been designed to protect wildlife, but may
now be inhibiting realisation of both conservation and economic benefits
that could be achieved through appropriate commercial use of wildlife.
By contrast, in South Africa, there is a well-established practice of sale of wild animals from public protected areas and private wildlife ranches that has helped to facilitate the establishment and maintenance of wildlife viewing and/or hunting enterprises on private land. South Africa provides probably the world’s prime example of large areas of private land managed for wildlife, with the commercial benefits provided by harvesting, live sales and/or tourism providing an economic incentive for that land use. A large amount of experience has accumulated in South Africa regarding the translocation of wild animals, and the management of this process. At the same time, a number of concerns have been raised relating to conservation and animal welfare impacts associated with this practice.
Objectives
Methods and results
To provide context, the
report introduces the general framework for commercial use of wildlife
in South Africa, including the important role of wildlife property rights.
It then describes the live trade in free-ranging wildlife in that country,
and identifies the significant economic and conservation benefits that
have been associated with this.
Next, the report reviews current management practices relating to the live trade, and key problems in implementing such practices. The various wildlife management concerns associated with translocation of wildlife as part of this live trade are then reviewed. These include economic, conservation, animal welfare and disease transmission issues. While these concerns are significant, in most cases the situation appears to have improved over time, with increased maturity and sophistication of the industry. The issue of the risk of disease transmission, however, may be an increasing concern. Also, all these concerns are compounded by a general lack of national coordination to date, and few government resources to provide support to landowners and to enforce compliance with regulations.
Current political developments relating to translocation of wildlife are then reviewed, revealing a move towards increased regulation of the industry by governments and increased industry self regulation, and increased coordination and consistency between provinces. Tensions between conservation and economic imperatives have remained significant throughout the development of the industry, although there has been a general move towards ‘finding common ground’.
The final section of the report summarises the Australian situation regarding commercial use and translocation of wildlife. It identifies key similarities and differences between South Africa and Australia in this context and, in the light of this, proposes implications of the South African system for Australia.
Conclusions
It is concluded that while
the opportunities for economic benefits in Australia are probably smaller
than those in South Africa, the conservation benefits that could be realised
are probably comparable.
Two key steps would have
to be undertaken in order for Australia to experience the kind of economic
and conservation benefits that flow from the live trade in wildlife in
South Africa. These are government policies and legislation that:
Even if the former does
not occur, attention could be given to encouraging and facilitating translocation
of native animals for private landowners who wish to reintroduce these
animals for ethical or tourism purposes (subject to appropriate criteria
and constraints). Such interest is not reliant on private ownership, although
this would almost certainly increase the level of demand.
However, if these directions
are to be taken in Australia, there is a wide range of environmental, political,
legal and economic issues that would have to be addressed. In particular,
significant animal welfare concerns associated with translocation would
have to be overcome to make this an ethically and politically viable option.
The South African experience gives some useful pointers regarding desirable
features for a system for commercial use of wildlife and associated translocation
practices, which should be examined in more depth if Australia proceeds
in this direction. In particular, in order to minimise environmental and
animal welfare problems and maximise economic and conservation benefits,
there would have to be:
We recommend that these
issues be examined in more detail in the future, in context of developments
in RIRDC’s Sustainable Wildlife Enterprises Project and future political
directions relating to commercial use of wildlife in Australia.
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