Dear OSCAP I read with interest your page: Outraged South African - TopicsExpress

Dear OSCAP I read with interest your page: Outraged South African Citizens Against Poaching sometime ago on Facebook, and my initial reaction was to identify with your comments. As a South African citizen, I am deeply disturbed by the growth in poaching in our country. Apart from the obvious problem with the increase in the killing of rhinos, when I first saw your headline I was hoping that OSCAP would be able to help me with the terrible poaching problems I have on my own game farm, where we have experienced an onslaught of illegal hunting of my wildlife by dogs and snares. On reflection, I have come to the conclusion that I am probably a minority as far as OSCAP is concerned for the following reasons: I am an enraged South African citizen and not a Kenyan, American, or even British citizen like so many of your members and sponsors are. I am worried about the onslaught of poaching of all wildlife and not just rhinos. I am concerned by what I see as a developing polarization by OSCAP of those of us who are concerned about poaching into two groups, namely Pro-trade in wildlife and Anti-trade in wildlife. I have the perception that OSCAP is biased against private game farm owners of which I am one and that you have a very negative and incorrect view of us, seeing us as villains who exploited wild animals for profit. It is because you do not truly represent Outraged South African Citizens Against Poaching that I am writing to express these concerns. Your present support from NGOs and individuals who were instrumental in halting hunting in Kenya is a very real worry to me. For a well-researched and balanced account of the impact of banning hunting a key reference is Glen Martin’s Game Changer: Animal Rights and the Fate of Africa’s Wildlife, in which Martin assesses the Kenyan situation in contrast to developments in Tanzania, Namibia and South Africa, where hunting by citizens and foreign tourists is an integral component of wildlife management. In stark contrast to Kenya, wildlife-based land uses and the sustainable use of wildlife is expanding, along with stable or increasing wildlife populations in Namibia and South Africa. There is now a considerable body of evidence that the collapse of wildlife in Kenya has been very largely due the thousands of animals suffering a cruel death in snares used for the bush-meat trade, which exploded in the absence of anti-poaching efforts in the former hunting concessions. In conclusion, although OSCAP has created a wide audience and support, I think that you have done immeasurable harm to your cause through the further polarization on the subject of consumptive use, which will inevitably waste far too much energy and funds on infighting, and OSCAP will be no closer to finding solutions to poaching. Yours faithfully Andrew van Heerden – Outraged South African Citizen Against Poaching.