Drought: Wildlife to be culled from both sides of the red line

Government says the culling of wildlife to mitigate the effects of hunger among Namibian communities will happen on both sides of the red line and in accordance with health and veterinary laws in order to avoid the spread of diseases.

Currently, ordinary citizens are not allowed to cross the red line with meat from its northern and eastern sides, a situation that has consistently been branded by critics as discriminatory.

Amid fears that communities south of the red line might be given contaminated meat following the announcement that over 700 wildlife will be culled to provide food as part of drought relief efforts, government has given assurance that this will not be the case.

Yesterday, Office of the Prime Minister executive director I-Ben Nashandi said: "The meat will be made available to all affected communities within the confines of the prevailing laws," adding that the meat "will be harvested on both sides of the veterinary cordon fence. The actual distribution depends on the availability of meat."

Sourced from across Namibia

Government recently announced a decision to cull more than 700 wildlife, including zebras, eland, blue wildebeest, elephants, buffalos, impalas and hippos, to assist with the drought relief efforts.

The animals are being sourced from five national parks, including the Namib-Naukluft, Mangetti, Bwabwata, Mudumu and Nkasa Rupara national parks, in addition to communal areas outside park boundaries.

Government explained that the culling programme will "help mitigate the negative impact of drought on wildlife conservation in both our national parks and communal areas."

Strategies in place

Environment ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda told Namibian Sun this week although the ministry is not in charge of distributing the meat to affected communities, mechanisms are in place to ensure that due processes and compliance with veterinary laws are followed.

Muyunda also underlined that the wildlife will not be sourced only from north of the red line, but also south of it.

“The distribution is going to be done by the Office of the Prime Minister. They already have their distribution strategies ... it is also not true that the meat will only come from the northern side of the red line,” Muyunda said.

“But also remember, in terms of communal areas, communal areas are mostly north of the red line and these are the communal areas that are mostly affected," he added.

“We have communal areas also south of the red line and through the Office of the Prime Minister, there is a plan on how we are going to include those people in the plan. But what we are saying is that it's also not true that the game will only come from the northern part of the red line."

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