Showing Tag: "wild" (Show all posts)

The Electric Fence

Posted by Chris & Mathilde Stuart on Monday, April 23, 2018,
There are literally thousands of kilometres of electric fencing ringing our South African national parks, reserves, game farms and Karoo sheep farms. A recent incident involving an Aardvark on a farm close to our Karoo home started us thinking. 

We know of numerous records of Leopard Tortoises being electrocuted and killed on these electrified strands. But tortoises do not pull back and receive multiple shocks. Although the Aardvark in question was only stunned, recovered and ran away, we wond...
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The Feral Horse Dilemma!

Posted by Chris & Mathilde Stuart on Wednesday, November 9, 2016,
We recently read about the feeding of the feral horses in the vicinity of Aus in southern Namibia. Mathilde and I first encountered these horses in 2003 and we were impressed by how they had survived against all the odds from the early 20th century. But they are not part of the natural system of things and if they survive so be it but man should not intervene and feed them.

We both are horse people but where feral horses enter a natural ecosystem they should be removed or controlled. In Austra...

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CITES and Elephants

Posted by Chris & Mathilde Stuart on Sunday, September 25, 2016,
We are watching the CITES gathering in South Africa with interest (let us not consider the carbon footprint of the over 2,000 delegates from all over the world shall we!). 
Elephant poaching has escalated massively despite regulations and regular 'talk shops'. The move to put all Elephant populations on Appendix 1 - if it happens, will inevitably be a disaster for the pachyderms. The trade will continue but just be driven further underground. One just has to think of the rhino horn trade. 
If y...
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Balance of Scale

Posted by Chris & Mathilde Stuart on Saturday, October 31, 2015,
It is already a while ago that Cecil the Lion was shot by an American dentist in Zimbabwe. The outcry, for a while, dominated the news, even rising to the level of the migrant crisis in Europe. Then a large Savanna Elephant tusker was shot by a trophy hunter in the south-east of the same country. Again, an outcry, because the Elephant had a name - a massive outcry against hunters, hunting outfitters and what they stand for. For a short time it pushed Nigeria's Boko Haram off the news headline...
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