The World Forum on The Future of Sport Shooting Activities

WFSA News and Information



August 2006

August 19, 2006

Calls to return to managed hunting in Kenya

The director of Kenya's Wildlife Service, Julius Kipng'etich, has been quoted by UK's Financial Times as saying that a "drastic decision" needs to be taken if the decline in Kenya's animal populations is to be arrested. A local think-tank, with members from the Kenya Wildlife Service and the East African Wildlife Society, has called for reintroduction of hunting, which was banned in 1977.

Without adding value to wildlife, the decline in numbers will continue, according to the recommendations made to the government. The Executive Director of the East African Wildlife Society said, "Ideally we would live and see wildlife and let it be, but it's not the reality. If we continue with the attitude that wildlife cannot be touched and should just be looked at, then there's no real future for it."

Eighty per cent of Kenya's tourism income is wildlife related, but it is agreed that a new policy throughout the country is badly needed. The article refers to Tanzania and Uganda, both of which are now successfully deriving income from sustainable use in the form of hunting, without damage to game populations.

Financial Times



August 17, 2006

South African gun dealers closing down

The incoming gun laws in South Africa have caused over 600 legitimate gun dealers to be forced to close their doors. South Africa of course has a very substantial safari and hunting tradition, with tourist hunters contributing substantially to the economy of the country.

Business Day has run an article describing the difficulty faced by lawful South African gun dealers in attempting to continue to run their businesses at a time when it is impossible to satisfy legislative requirements.

The laws when they were enacted required 600,000 licensed gun owners to reapply for licences. This requirement was changed to the obligation to submit to an audit, and then again changed back to a licensing reapplication. It has been reported that legal challenges will most likely be mounted by firearm owner groups.

The dealers now forced out of business in the industry, which used to gross 2 billion Rand, amount to ninety per cent of the total number in the country. Under the regulations that are now being enforced, a dealer cannot sell to a customer who has not passed the competence test and satisfied the licensing requirements, but this is routinely taking more than eighteen months to arrange, so that it has become impossible for dealers to function.

Business Day



August 2, 2006

Namibia and managed hunting

A report on allafrica.com has given prominence to the successful management of seasonal hunting in Namibia.

With hunting growing at twenty per cent each year, it is the fastest growing component of the country's tourism sector. The Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism, Leon Jooste, has endorsed the growing industry in an interview, referring to the principles of sustainable use.

For more than thirty years, Namibia has had an established course to train hunting guides, run at the Omitara Eagle Rock Hunting Academy by Volker and Anke Grellmann, which over that length of time has handled about a thousand students. The curriculum incorporates a wide range of subjects including botany, legislation, and the practical elements of hunting and shooting. All trophy hunting in the country has to take place in the company of a registered guide. The country now boasts over 600 hunting guides and another 55 who have qualifications to hunt big game.

Almost 6,000 foreign tourists hunt in Namibia each year, and the black rhinoceros has recently been added to the quarry list by the international authority, CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200607311620.html



August 1, 2006

Lawful gun owners challenge authorities in Belgium

According to Expatica, UNACT, the Belgian association of sporting shooters, has come out against the recently introduced gun laws, beginning an action in the Arbitration Tribunal, on the grounds that the new law interferes with legal certainty.

The association maintains that the law will only increase illegal gun ownership. It says that almost all shootings are carried out with illegal firearms, and is arguing that parts of the legislation should be cancelled.

Expatica story link



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