[alloprimate] Animals for Sale - Pretoria Zoo

[Guest guest]

Shirley et al,

 

I got a private reply to my public posting, which I'll cut and paste

hereunder ... Jane

 

WAZA Director

'Jane T. R. Dewar'

Thursday, May 06, 2004 5:58 AM

AW: Animals for Sale - Pretoria Zoo

 

 

Dear Jane

 

every answer I give to you provokes two or three more questions, and I

simply don't have the time to go on with this correspondence.

 

a. If you keep wildlife under wild or semiwild conditions the animals will

unavoidably breed and you will have to regulate the numbers in one way or

another. Note that even in Kruger National Park, half the size of

Switzerland, animals are culled or captured alive and auctioned. Should this

be a reason not to keep land under wildlife and to convert it into sheep or

cattle farms instead, which would be the only alternative land use for at

least two of the National Zoos GBCs? (I do not expect an answer)

 

b. The fact that the animals are surplus from a zoo perspective does not

mean that they are surplus under other aspects, e.g. the existence of these

semiwild populations has a conservation value per se, a mix of species,

which unavoidably includes common species too, is required to maintain the

veld in a suitable condition, the supply of animals to other landowners

helps increasing the wildlife populations in the country.

 

c. The National Zoo is a non-profit institution. The money form the sales

is required to keep the operations going as gate fees are negligible

(Mokopane has a bout 15'000 visitiors a year, Lichtenburg 7000).

 

Yours

Peter

 

-

" Shirley McGreal " <smcgreal

<alloprimate >

Thursday, May 06, 2004 9:43 AM

Re: [alloprimate] Re: Animals for Sale - Pretoria Zoo

 

 

> Jane, I bet they're selling animals to hunting ranches to get murdered,

> that's big in SA, Shirley

>

> At 11:06 AM 5/5/2004, you wrote:

>

> >NachrichtDear Peter,

> >

> >Thank you for taking the time to answer my question about Pretoria Zoo

> >selling animals. I'm still a bit confused, however, and perhaps you'd be

> >kind enough to clarify things for me.

> >

> >If Pretoria Zoo is running a " breeding program " with over 15,000

> > " specimens, and then has to cull or sell them to avoid overgrazing, why

> >are they breeding in the first place? Is this a money-making program or,

> >if it's conservation-related, how does breeding surplus populations help?

>