Airlines send SA trophy hunting industry into tailspin with cargo ban
Several major airlines have recently followed in South African Airways’ (SAA) footsteps by placing an embargo on the transport of elephant, rhino, lion and tiger hunting trophies.
Several major airlines have recently followed in South African Airways’ (SAA) footsteps by placing an embargo on the transport of elephant, rhino, lion and tiger hunting trophies.
In April, SAA was commended by conservationists for imposing the embargo with immediate effect. Less than a month later, Emirates Airlines followed suit.
At the beginning of April, Australian Customs and Border Protection Services seized 110kgs of ivory from the cargo of an SAA flight at Perth airport in transit to Kuala Lumpur.
“In this particular instance, the shipment contained elephant tusks and was seized. We were issued with a Notice of Seizure,” Tlali Tlali, SAA spokesperson, said.
“We had to act swiftly to curb the problem of illegal transportation of animals”.
Forensic investigator, Paul O’Sullivan applauded SAA’s decision at the time. “This is one of SAA’s greatest steps forwards in recent years. It’s an absolute fallacy that without hunts called legal hunts, the eco-tourism industry would collapse. This fake rumour has been propagated by so called pro hunters to pro-long the life of the “canned hunting industry” said O’Sullivan.
“I want to go on record and say that most of the rhinos allegedly shot by foreign hunters in the North West and Limpopo, were victims of the professional hunters association, whose members have falsified their records to enable the most heinous smuggling scheme this country has ever seen. This country and its rhinos are now paying the price.
“Members of the professional hunters association have engineered and facilitated the illegal hunting of CITES registered species such as elephants, rhinos, lions, the whole damn lot,” O’Sullivan said.
“Without those falsified records, hundreds, if not thousands of rhinos would still be alive today. These people have created a market in Asia for these products. If you want to know where the corruption is taking place, just look at where the rhino and lion hunts are going on, and that’s a fact. The hunting industry is rotten to the core” O’Sulliuvan said.
Professional Hunters Association of South Africa (PHASA) CEO, Adri Kitshoff, said she she had not received any allegations or heard of any complaints against any of PHASA’s membership being involved in pseudo hunting.
