Carnegie, R.F., 1945. Reported game destruction in Zululand. Journal of the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire 52: 40-41
|
|
|
|
| |
| Location: |
Africa - Southern Africa - South Africa |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
African Rhino Species |
 |
|
Game destruction. Since you published my letter on Kenya's Game on 13th April there has been quite a lively interchange of opinion in your columns - and I am glad to see that the bulk of your correspondents are in favour of moderation, and generally speaking, are for game protection as far as economically possible. Even if you have closed your columns for the time being to this subject, I wonder if you could find room for this shocking story of misapplied energy - as it contains a valuable warning for Kenya. A friend, at present in Zululand, sent me some Natal newspaper cuttings. One states `Game is a thing of the past, it has all been destroyed inside and outside the Umfolozi reserve, and this includes all small buck.' This statement is made by a leading Zululand farmer, who declares that as a result of the slaughter of game the tsetse fly is living and breeding in the settlement; 90 per cent of his herd of well-bred cattle are now infected with nagana. North of the Nselini the settlement is ruined. A few years ago he could have sold his farm at a good price; to-day he cannot give it away. In previous years when game was driven out of the settlement, the tsetse fly went with the game to its old haunts; the result being that for three or four years cattle were free from nagana and thrived. The following from the Daily Forum: `I have on many occasions seen flies in places where there has certainly been no game for miles; there is no doubt whatever that the fly will use cattle as hosts if there is no game about.' And this from the Natal Mercury of 21.5.45 : `More than a year has passed since the Minister of Agriculture announced in Parliament that 14,000 head of game had already been destroyed in the Umfolozi area; that was before the campaign had got into its stride.' The article goes on to say that reports from Zululand suggest that far from checking nagana the destruction of game has actually spread the tsetse fly through the farming settlement and that the authorities were warned against the slaughter but instead of accepting considered advice, listened to the clamour of a handful of Zululand farmers, Natal has not only lost its game, an asset of real value, but will suffer an intensification of nagana in the settlements.'
What a story - it is staggering to think that any body of normal human beings can sit at a council table and sanction the sadistic and foul slaughter of 14,000 innocent and beautiful animals, with perhaps another 14,000 to follow - and this idiotic course appears to have been followed against expert and well-informed advice-and now things are far worse than before, whole districts are ruined 3 and Natal has lost a priceless and quite irreplaceable asset.
In conclusion, I will quote from the pamphlet published by The Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire, of which the patron is HM. the King. `Many species of animal, all of them interesting, many of them of surpassing grace and beauty, have already been exterminated, or are on the verge of extinction throughno other cause than the savagery, the thoughtless folly, or the greed of mankind.'
|
|
|
Reported game destruction in Zululand
File available
details
Original text on this topic: