Stop the killing of jackals and caracals with the blessing of CapeNature and the Western Cape Legislature in South Africa and make use of non-lethal predator control.
In 2011, members of the agricultural lobby in the Western Cape province of South Africa were legally permitted to kill just about every jackal and caracal that they could find. This was issued as a means to control the problem of livestock loss. It is however a decision that could wipe out the Cape’s mid-level predator group entirely and result in the collapse of the ecosystem.
The authorization to legally kill jackals and caracals was in essence an order to kill the highest number of an indigenous species recorded in the history of Africa. Each permit holder was permitted to kill five caracals and five jackals a day for 183 consecutive days. This added up to a stupendous 894 250 individual kills. Cape Nature was called out by the Landmark Foundation, an organization that strives to protect Southern Africa’s conservation economy. They argued that Cape Nature carries a mandate to protect our biodiversity but by ordering the destruction of so many of these species, it amounts to nothing short of a dereliction of duty.
The permits distributed also broke conservation boundaries with regard to the nature of the execution of the jackals and caracals. In addition to authorizing the death of more jackals and caracals than actually exist in the area, permit holders were allowed the use of highly unethical hunting practices that go against any conservationist’s moral compass. Call and shoot methods have been used whereby hunters purposefully call the animals out of hiding before shooting them. Trained hunting dogs have been used to sniff out the predators. Predators were also chased and shot from helicopters.
Gin traps (banned in numerous countries due to the inhumane nature of catching animals) are also still used and often are the preferred and, according to the farmers, the most effective method. These traps have been renamed “soft traps” although there is nothing soft about the way they snap closed over whichever body part its victim has unwittingly placed into its metal jaws. The animal rarely dies straight away and often remains trapped and injured, ultimately dying of dehydration or starvation. If it is lucky, the trap may cut the animal’s paw off completely and it may be able to limp away with a slim chance of survival.These soft traps are also responsible for up to 20 times more deaths than they are intended for. There is no control over which animals stumble across these metal mechanical “land mines” and numerous other species see their unintended deaths.
This culling is still ongoing. It means that the indigenous jackals, caracals and numerous innocent bystanders are still threatened with more uncontrolled and unethical deaths. The knock-on effect of taking out these important species will see the end of the biodiversity in the Cape and the undoing of nature’s delicate balance.
Currently, in this scenario of a lack of due governance and accountability (with the willful endorsement of CapeNature of this situation), no one has insight into the actual decimation that is occurring.
