Summary
Throughout the world, terrestrial mammals are
hunted for sport, subsistence and population control,
providing a significant source of meat and income
to communities (Milner et al. 2007). The
game ranching industry in South Africa relies heavily
on trophy hunting as a primary source of income (du
Toit & van Rooyan 2002), and hence may be subject
to manipulation that could increase revenue.
The industry is growing rapidly, and steps need to
be taken to ensure that this industry is sustainable,
and is firmly grounded in science with effective
government policy. In a recent article in South African
Journal of Wildlife Research, von Brandis &
Reilly (2008, hereafter vB&R) claim that significant
spatial variation exist in the trophy quality (a function
of horn size) of ungulates in South Africa and
advocate the importance of a national trophy
quality monitoring programme in order to control
potential manipulation of trophy populations. vB&R raise concerns over the extent of artificial
selection being applied in the wildlife industry (see
also von Brandis & Reilly 2007). Although these
are important concerns within the game industry
that require attention, there are philosophical and
methodological limitations of this study that question
its conclusions. Here we critically assess the
analytical approach and the conclusions of that
study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1001722 |
| Date | 01 April 2009 |
| Creators | de Bruyn, PJN, Landman,M, Tambling, CJ, Verburgt, M |
| Publisher | South African Journal of Wildlife Research |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | |
| Rights | South African Journal of Wildlife Research |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds