Table Mountain Cull Has South Africa in a Spin
Date: 14-Jun-04
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
Author: Gordon Bell
South Africa National Parks (SANParks) says the Himalayan tahr is a threat to the unique ecosystems and rare plant species found on the imposing mountain that serves as Cape Town's breathtaking backdrop.
Animal lovers say it is cruel to kill off the roughly 100 tahrs that are there and want them moved.
Rangers have pressed ahead with the cull in the face of death threats. Sharp-shooters spotted on the mountain and reports of decomposing carcasses have only served to fan the dispute.
"Operations are currently underway," said Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) spokeswoman Fiona Kalk. She declined to give figures on how many tahrs had been shot since the cull began May 15.
"We are not releasing numbers to the press because this is not a sport where we keep a daily tally, but a difficult and important conservation exercise," she explained.
Few people have ever laid eyes on the elusive animals. Tahrs, although related to mountain goats and mountain antelopes, are a distinct species.
The government, which has publicly backed SANParks' plan, met the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) last week after the animal welfare group threatened to take SANParks to court.
The group opposes the cull and wants the tahrs moved to a private reserve some 155 miles to the west of Cape Town. Catching tahrs in nets or shooting them with tranquilizer darts is costly and can be lethal if not done properly.
"If we can't get them off the mountain we have to discuss the manner in which this is happening. At the moment we've got a bunch of trigger-happy hunters out there," said Marcelle Meredith, the NSPCA's executive director.
SANParks have rejected talk of a moratorium but agreed to allow the NSPCA to monitor the shootings while it (NSPCA) drafts an alternative plan to remove the animals.
ECOLOGICAL NECESSITY?
Activists have denounced the cull as "maverick slaughter," but conservationists say they are only trying to save the country's dwindling natural heritage.
"We don't look forward to what we're going to do," said TMNP manager Brett Myrdal, when he announced in May that the cull had begun.
"We are animal lovers too ... (but) as custodians of the mountain and the sea, we have the responsibility to look to the future," he said.
Since then, park officials have kept quiet about the cull but remained steadfast amid threats of violence. A debate set for May 26 was canceled at short notice due to "continued abuse and threatening phone calls."
The tahrs are descendants of a single pair that escaped from a now defunct zoo in 1936.
SANParks plans to reintroduce the indigenous klipspringer, a tiny buck lost to the area for decades, in their place.
The Cape region is home to the smallest, yet the richest of the world's six floral kingdoms, as well as the only floral kingdom found entirely in one country.
Conservationists are concerned about the devastating impact alien species are having on the region that is currently home to 9,600 plant species, 70 percent of which are found nowhere else in the world.
They say the tahrs, which can grow up to about three feet high and weigh more than 176 lb, have caused severe ecological damage, eating and uprooting indigenous rare plants with their curved horns.
Table Mountain's tahr population, which peaked at more than 700 in the 1970s, has survived numerous efforts to exterminate it over the past three decades.
SANparks agreed to a moratorium on culling in 2000 with a group called the "Friends of the Tahr," but resumed it after the courts dismissed an application last year to end the program.
