Psyber wrote:Jim05 wrote:Against McGrath killing elephants but have no problem with hunting animals such as buffalo, deer or wild boars
When I was in Kruger National Park in 2009, the Rangers there were discussing the fact that they may have to start culling elephants because they had more there than the park could handle. One of the problems is that elephants will tear trees out of the ground to eat the soft juicy roots and discard the rest. The result of this, if there are too many elephants, is that other more rare species may finish up starving due to the loss of fruit bearing trees and bushes.
There was some discussion going on, too, of the pros and cons of allowing private hunters to do the culling (under supervision) and thus at least make some money to support the park's other work.
The positive is extra funding, while the negative is the public outcry from people who don't understand the complexity of the situation.
Of course they are aware they'll get the outcry if they do the culling themselves too, unless they can keep it quiet.
All the parks face this dilemma as they just don't have enough land - and never will unless we cull people instead...
It is not as simple as it seems.
I was there about this time last year, and I wish I had have bought a book that discussed how the plight of some species were taken up amongst the influential, especially abroad, and the amounts of money raised just for that species, whilst many others were endangered and how this might affect their plight and consequently the whole ecosystem.
