Transforming The Wildlife Industry High On The Agenda

Newly-elected president of Wildlife Ranching SA, Tebogo Mogashoa, says transformation of the game industry and advocating for the legal trade in rhino horn will be among the top focal points for the organisation this year.

- Tebogo Mogashoa

Transformation is one of Wildlife Ranching South Africa’s (WRSA) key focus areas, and we encourage our members to support it. We have full-time consultants who advise members on transformation, and we also partner with provincial governments and environmental departments to advise beneficiaries of land restitution programmes on how to enter the wildlife and biodiversity economy.

Market valuations and know-how are two barriers to entry for new game breeders. I always advise new entrants to invest in a factory, not a zoo. In other words, one must buy an economically viable production unit of a species, for example a nyala bull and 20 ewes, so that they can breed sustainably and increase in numbers.

If you invest in different species without a coordinated investment programme that is optimised according to established breeding practices, you own a zoo – and it will not show growth.

If a new entrant invests incorrectly from day one, undoing those initial mistakes can be frustrating and expensive. New entrants also need advice on how to acquire the correct genetics at the right price. The WRSA supports new entrants with advice on how best to invest in game and how to acquire land, build infrastructure and learn about the animals’ health and feeding needs.

NAMIBIA-STYLE TRANSFORMATION

The Namibian model in which rural communities run hunting operations on communal land may also work in South Africa.

The WRSA has a project in the Northern Cape, called the Komani SAN Project, where we provide advice and management support to a community running a 14 000ha hunting operation on communal land. We have managed to put together a sustainable hunting operation in conjunction with them.