Hunters, NSPCA lock horns in wildlife economy war

The South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association has no regard for the well-being of animals and is merely driven by commercial interests; the National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) will tell the Constitutional Court this month.

The association, which traces its roots to 1949, looks to challenge the inclusion of “well-being” in the National Environmental Management Laws Amendment (Nemla) Bill and eventually in the Biodiversity Act — arguing this was done by parliament without sufficient public involvement.

In a rare direct access application to the country’s apex court, the association — which boasts more than 40,000 members, including about 500 game farmers — says the inclusion of the well-being provision in the statutes puts the government in a position to prohibit any activity that negatively impacts the well-being of an animal.

It said this would be detrimental to the industry, which it says spends about R23bn a year in furtherance of its hunting activities — putting an emphasis on its main argument that the Biodiversity Act, prior to the passing and subsequent promulgation of the Nemla Act, did not contain any definition of “well-being”.

“The term ‘well-being’ does not translate to animal well-being in a manner that can be sensibly or rationally interpreted for animals,” the association’s CEO Roelof Camphor says in an affidavit deposed on behalf of the group.

“I ask rhetorically: how is the mental health of an animal to be considered and assessed?... is there a difference in the consideration of the well-being of an impala whether it is hunted by a lion or a human? The definition of ‘well-being’ inserts a subjective and often unscientific basis upon which the well-being of an animal is to be measured, which undermines biodiversity and conservation efforts instead of promoting them.”

South Africa’s trophy hunting industry draws thousands of hunters annually, both domestic and offshore. According to the association’s papers before the Constitutional Court, which Business Times has seen, about 130,000 animals are hunted in South Africa annually by international hunters and about 277,000 animals by local hunters.

It is these lucrative activities that the NSPCA takes umbrage over, saying the legal challenge by the association to the inclusion of the well-being of animals in the act is self-serving and asking the apex court to be an intervening party.

The NSPCA will argue that animals are sentient beings, capable of experiencing pain and suffering.“As against what the NSPCA sees on a daily and weekly basis, in terms of hunting practices in South Africa, the industry can hardly be said to have the welfare of animals at heart,” NSPCA CEO Esté Kotzé said in her affidavit.

“Given the almost garish focus of the hunting industry on profit and money with a refusal to acknowledge animal sentience, it is of utmost import that the NSPCA, the minister of environmental affairs, and the courts provide means to buffer commercial use against aspects of sustainability, ethics and outright animal abuse. Animals are, in our law, seen as worthy of protection and are not mere ‘commercial assets’.”

The NSPCA’s strongly worded legal papers prompted a backlash from the association, which asks the court to reject the animal rights lobby group’s application with costs. “… the conduct of the NSPCA, and especially the tone of its criticism of the applicant, its members, and its interest, is regrettable.

“Perhaps the time has arrived for this honourable court to show its displeasure with such derogatory and/or defamatory utterances by ruling that an organisation making itself guilty of such conduct will not receive Biowatch protection.”

Business Times