Should we intervene to save animals or not

For conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts and tourists there is a quandary.  Do we, as human beings intervene in natural situations to save animals under pressure?  Should we let nature take its course?

This question comes to mind when I published a magazine article in our Observer Connect Magazine February March edition (not online yet, sorry) about the debate on whether to assist Namibia's fantastic desert horses as they face massive and debilitating predation from local hyenas that are slowly, but certainly killing them off.  No new babies have survived the predation in six years and their numbers are down by 100 animals over the previous years.  Check out my friends at the excellent Gondwana chain of resorts that is heavily involved and informed about this issue on https://www.gondwana-collection.com/news/article/2018/11/19/the-wild-horses-of-the-namib,

These two photos come from Teagan Cunniffe.

The pressure is on the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism to intervene to save the wild horses.  This means removing the hyenas to other areas where they can find other prey.  Given the extreme drought that Namibia is suffering right now, the horses are already under duress from water and grazing shortages.

Some who support predators doing their thing object to this kind of intervention claiming it is a natural state of things, the circle of life if you will.  There is truth there.

This week, the Ministry decided to intervene to save about 70 Hippos stuck in newly dried 'water holes' that have become mud death traps in the drought.  The Ministry dug a borehole to allow water to seep in and free the animals and give them a lifeline until the next rainy season.  Without that intervention, these fabulous animals would have certainly died.

And yet, drought is a natural occurrence (although with man-made global warming, one wonders about this), and many animals die as a result.  Isn't that a natural cycle.  Hippos are not rare or under threat of extinction in any way.  The loss of those 70 animals would not have caused a species extinction or even a noticeable threat of one.  Check out https://neweralive.na/posts/met-throws-lifeline-to-nearly-70-hippos.  But still...

 


Come visit Namibia.  Support our community based natural resource management program.  Stay in lodges and campsites in communal conservancies or in the Gondwana Desert Collection that is committed to working with communities and supporting wildlife development.