Depois de Cecil, foi
morto o maior elefante em mais 30 anos
OBSERVADOR /
16-10-2015
Três meses depois
da morte do leão Cecil no Zimbabwe, agora um alemão pagou mais de
50 mil euros para caçar o maior elefante em mais de 30 anos.
Três meses depois
da morte do leão Cecil, provocada por um dentista americano e que
chocou o mundo, agora é a vez de um elefante cair por terra. Mas
este não era um elefante qualquer. E já está a criar polémica.
Este era um dos
maiores elefantes em África. Teria entre 40 e 60 anos e só os
dentes pesariam mais de 50 quilos e vivia no Parque Nacional de
Gonarezhou no Zimbabwe, local onde foi morto. Mas nunca fora visto
nessa região – até agora. Ou seja, até à publicação de uma
fotografia, tirada pouco tempo depois da morte do animal, onde um
caçador furtivo alemão aparece a posar junto ao enorme animal.
Pensa-se que este foi o maior elefante morto em mais de 30 anos.
Como conta o
Telegraph, o animal foi morto no dia 8 de outubro, durante uma caçada
privada junto a Gonarezhou por um caçador que pagou qualquer coisa
como 60.000 dólares (cerca de 52 mil euros) para o efeito. O orgulho
demonstrado pelo alemão tem uma razão: é que este deveria ser um
dos maiores elefantes em solo africano e foi, na estimativa dos
especialistas, o maior elefante morto em mais de 30 anos.
O gestor de uma
empresa de safaris fotográficos em Gonarezhou, Anthony Kaschula,
publicou as fotografias da caçada no Facebook, e escreveu, citado
pelo Telegraph, que “nós não temos nenhum controlo sobre a caça
furtiva, mas temos controlo sobre a política de caça que deve
reconhecer que animais como este têm mais valor vivos do que
mortos.”
A grande diferença
entre este elefante e o leão Cecil reside no fato do primeiro apenas
se ter tornado conhecido do publico em geral depois de ter sido
morto. Já Cecil era um dos animais mais acarinhados e conhecidos no
Zimbabwe.
Especula-se que o
elefante chamava-se Nkombo, e que lhe foi colocada uma coleira para
registar os seus movimentos por satélite no Parque Nacional Kruger,
na África do Sul. Nkombo perdeu a sua coleira em 2014 e pensa-se
agora que o elefante terá migrado para o Zimbabwe onde teve o
encontro fatal com o alemão que acabou por lhe tirar a vida.
Biggest
elephant killed in Africa for almost 30 years brings back memories of
Cecil the lion
Exclusive:
German hunter pays nearly £40,000 to shoot one of the largest
elephants ever seen in Zimbabwe, while conservationists and safari
guides mourn the loss of ‘magnificent’ animal
By Peta Thornycroft,
and Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg10:14AM BST 16 Oct 2015
It is an image that
will haunt conservationists: one of Africa’s most majestic
creatures lying dead on the ground as a white Western hunter poses
proudly by its side.
Barely three months
after the shooting of Cecil the lion caused global outrage, a German
hunter has risked the wrath of animal lovers once more by shooting
dead one of the largest elephants ever seen in Zimbabwe.
Mystery surrounded
the identity of the elephant, which was estimated to have been
between 40 and 60 years old, but had never been seen before in
Zimbabwe’s southern Gonarezhou National Park.
But its tusks, which
almost touch the ground in a photograph taken moments after its
shooting, confirmed its exceptional nature, weighing a combined
120lb.
It was shot on
October 8 in a private hunting concession bordering Gonarezhou by a
hunter who paid $60,000 (£39,000) for a permit to land a large bull
elephant and was accompanied by a local, experienced professional
hunter celebrated by the hunting community for finding his clients
large elephants.
The German national,
who the hunt’s organisers have refused to name, had travelled to
Zimbabwe to conduct a 21-day game hunt including the Big Five of
elephants, leopards, lions, buffalo and rhinoceros.
“Individual
elephants such as these should be accorded their true value as a
National Heritage and should be off limits to hunting"
Anthony Kaschula,
Safari firm owner
The kill was
celebrated in hunting forums around the world, where it was suggested
he might have been the biggest elephant killed in Africa for almost
30 years.
Conservationists and
photographic safari operators in the area expressed their outrage on
Thursday night, saying the animal was one of a kind and should have
been preserved for all to see.
Anthony Kaschula,
who operates a photographic safari firm in Gonarezhou, posted
pictures of the hunt on Facebook, said the elephant had never been
seen in the area before but would have been celebrated by visitors
and locals alike.
“We have no
control over poaching but we do have control over hunting policy that
should acknowledge that animals such as this one are of far more
value alive (to both hunters and non-hunters) than dead,” he wrote.
“Individual
elephants such as these should be accorded their true value as a
National Heritage and should be off limits to hunting. In this case,
we have collectively failed to ensure that legislation is not in
place to help safeguard such magnificent animals.”
Unlike Cecil, the
black-maned lion beloved by tourists who was shot by American dentist
Walter Palmer in Hwange National Park using a bow and arrow in July,
the animal’s origin was not immediately known.
It was speculated
that he might have come up from South Africa, since there is no
border between the Kruger National Park and Gonarezhou, which form
part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park created by former South
African president Nelson Mandela.
Some suggested that
the elephant might be a massive bull called Nkombo, who was a
satellite collared elephant from the Kruger who lost his collar in
2014. Nkombo was however spotted in the Kruger on October 3, making
it unlikely that he would have completed a journey of several hundred
miles in five days.
William Mabasa, of
South Africa’s National Parks, said Kruger’s elephant experts
were looking into the case. “If this elephant came up from the
Kruger, he would have had to go through all the communities on the
edge of Gonarezhou and someone would have seen him. It’s not
possible.”
Louis Muller,
chairman of the Zimbabwe Professional Hunters & Guides
Association, said the hunter had only realised how large the “tusker”
was once he had been shot.
"He told me
when he and his client were stalking this elephant he saw the tusks
were big but did not realise just how big until afterwards and he saw
them close. He is going back to see if he can find the lower jaw and
bring it back so we can accurately age this elephant,” he told The
Telegraph.
"We checked
everywhere and this elephant has never been seen before, not in
Zimbabwe nor Kruger. We would have known it because its tusks are
huge. There have been five or six giant tuskers shot in the last year
or so, and we knew all of them, but none as big as this one.”
He said his
organisation had suggested that unique elephants should be collared
to protect them from hunting. “We have suggested before to all
concerned parties that each elephant area should collar a few with
biggest tusks, so that we do not shoot them,” he said. "Nobody
responded to our suggestion last year. We believe this might now be
taken seriously.”
The man who helped
arrange the hunt, who did not want to be named, defended his client.
“This was a legal hunt and the client did nothing wrong,” he
said. “We hunters have thick skins and we know what the greenies
will say. This elephant was probably 60 years old and had spread its
seed many many times over.”
He said his
organisation paid as much as 70 per cent of its hunting fees back to
the local community and observed quotas for animals. “This is good
for Zimbabwe and good for local people,” he said. “It’s not
uncommon for hunters to spend $100,000 (£64,551) each trip.”
Meanwhile Zimbabwe
National Parks has called for stiffer penalties for poachers
following the discovery on Tuesday of 26 more elephant carcasses that
died of cyanide poisoning at two different locations in the Hwange
National Park.
Cyanide poisoning is
a growing problem in the country since a mass poisoning in October
2013 resulted in up to 100 deaths.
The 26 elephants
were discovered by rangers following another discovery last week of
14 other elephants, also poisoned to death by cyanide.
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