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Zimbabwe To Kill Buffalo In 'Bizarre' Mass Cull
Independent (UK) ^ | 9-8-2003 | Basilon Peta

Posted on 09/07/2003 4:10:32 PM PDT by blam

Zimbabwe to kill buffalo in 'bizarre' mass cull

By Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent
08 September 2003

Zimbabwe is culling thousands of buffalo to "contain" foot-and-mouth disease in a move that has sparked protests and been described as "futile and bizarre".

Conservationists said the order was "stupid" and would kill off what was left of Zimbabwe's tourism sector, which has shrunk to 15 per cent of its former level since political disturbances began in 2000.

Salmon Joubert, a retired executive director of the Kruger National Park, which straddles Zimbabwe's borders with South Africa and Mozambique, said the decision "ranks as one of the most futile and bizarre moves that anyone can imagine".

Many other cloven-hoofed animals, such as impala and kudu, are carriers of foot-and-mouth disease, so Zimbabwe would have to exterminate all of them to achieve its goal.

Officials from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management descended on private game parks last week telling owners that the government of President Robert Mugabe had decided to destroy all buffalo on private land in order to eliminate the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Wilfried Pabst, who owns the Save Valley Conservancy, said officials told his workers that foot-and-mouth disease had cost Zimbabwe its European beef markets. "What is happening in Zimbabwe makes the Chinese Cultural revolution look like a picnic," said Mr Pabst, a German national and a major investor in the country's tourism sector.

The National Parks officials indicated that, alternatively, the buffalo in the private game parks could be seized and taken to the government's national parks to control their movements, Mr Pabst said.

However, fences at most national game parks were destroyed at the height of farm invasions last year, leaving the buffalo there free to mix with cattle in villages. "Any sensible government would replace these fences [rather] than resort to the outrageous move of killing animals," Mr Pabst said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: africa; africawatch; bizarre; buffalo; cull; kill; zimbabwe

1 posted on 09/07/2003 4:10:33 PM PDT by blam
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To: Clive
Ping
2 posted on 09/07/2003 4:10:59 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
Conservationists said the order was "stupid" and would kill off what was left of Zimbabwe's tourism sector

Yep, that's why I decided not to vacation in lovely, friendly Zimbabwe this year. That mass slaughter of cows

hoo boy..

3 posted on 09/07/2003 4:19:11 PM PDT by katnip
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To: katnip
If I ever go back it will be with lots of ammo to wipe out the zanu-pf.
4 posted on 09/07/2003 4:23:56 PM PDT by JOHANNES801 (I am the vrwc.)
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To: farmfriend
ping
5 posted on 09/07/2003 5:04:00 PM PDT by Libertarianize the GOP (Ideas have consequences)
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To: blam; AAABEST; Ace2U; Alamo-Girl; Alas; amom; AndreaZingg; Anonymous2; ApesForEvolution; ...
Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

6 posted on 09/07/2003 5:06:13 PM PDT by farmfriend ( Isaiah 55:10,11)
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To: katnip
LOL. I took a game drive once in Zim while waiting for my car to be repaired in Bulawayo. The thing was, I had been on lots of game drives in South Africa already and had gotten about all the photos of rhinos, buffaloes etc that I cared for at the moment. My wife and I were the only ones on the game drive and the driver kept stopping when he found an animal and we'd sit there and watch it quite happily. But it became obvious after a while that the driver was getting annoyed about something. He finally stopped so we could gaze at a white rhino and then asked us "Why you aren't taking pictures?" We told him we had already taken many pictures of rhinos in the Kruger park and this one didn't look particularly different but we were happy to look at it. He got all in a huff about it. "Oh, you've seen South AFrican rhino so you don't need a picture of Zimbabwe rhino! Why do you come to Zimbabwe?"

We hadn't the heart to tell him we were just pleasantly killing time waiting for the wheel bearing to our old Passat to be ordered. We broke out the camera and took pictures of everything after that and he was quite happy again.

7 posted on 09/07/2003 5:25:14 PM PDT by Prodigal Son
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To: blam
Are the fences that keep out the tse-tes fly infections still up?
8 posted on 09/07/2003 6:13:23 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: JOHANNES801
If I ever go back it will be with lots of ammo to wipe out the zanu-pf.

Better bring lots.

I don't plan on EVER going there.

9 posted on 09/07/2003 7:05:27 PM PDT by katnip
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To: blam
Hoof-and-mouth disease is endemic in the wild herds on the veldt. This is nothing new.

What is new are consequences of the land siezure and the chaos in the agrarian sector.

Communal cattle have been admixed with commercial herds.

Cattle have been moved without clearances or safety precaustinns.

Some commercial grazing land has been over-stocked by squatters bringing in their own cattle while other parts have been de-stocked.

Fences have been stripped of the wire by poachers and squatters. (The wire makes handy nooses for the poachers.) As a result, cattle have been let into standing crops and into wild herd grazing areas where hoof-and-mouth and anthrax are endemic.

Not to mention arson of the veldt.

10 posted on 09/07/2003 7:41:45 PM PDT by Clive
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To: blam
Hoof-and-mouth disease is endemic in the wild herds on the veldt. This is nothing new.

What is new are consequences of the land siezure and the chaos in the agrarian sector.

Communal cattle have been admixed with commercial herds.

Cattle have been moved without clearances or safety precaustinns.

Some commercial grazing land has been over-stocked by squatters bringing in their own cattle while other parts have been de-stocked.

Fences have been stripped of the wire by poachers and squatters. (The wire makes handy nooses for the poachers.) As a result, cattle have been let into standing crops and into wild herd grazing areas where hoof-and-mouth and anthrax are endemic.

Not to mention arson of the veldt.

11 posted on 09/07/2003 7:42:00 PM PDT by Clive
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To: *AfricaWatch; blam; Cincinatus' Wife; sarcasm; Travis McGee; happygrl; Byron_the_Aussie; robnoel; ..
-
12 posted on 09/07/2003 7:45:36 PM PDT by Clive
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To: katnip
I'm going to Zimbabwe next year to see Victoria Falls. Can't help myself.
13 posted on 09/07/2003 7:48:37 PM PDT by cyborg (i'm half and half... me mum is a muggle and me dad is a witch)
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To: cyborg
Why not go through Botswana instead and see the falls from the Zambia side.
14 posted on 09/07/2003 7:59:31 PM PDT by Clive
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To: Clive
Yes that's what my friend recommended. I'm not going by myself. My friend is a 250lb. rugby player from Pretoria. He knows every little method of getting into and out of Zim fast.
15 posted on 09/07/2003 8:12:35 PM PDT by cyborg (i'm half and half... me mum is a muggle and me dad is a witch)
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To: farmfriend
BTTT!!!!!
16 posted on 09/08/2003 3:09:12 AM PDT by E.G.C. (Be sure to click on my screename to read a salute to other industries benifitting S.W. OK)
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