The wholesale jerseys China Department cheap mlb jerseys of cheap jerseys Environmental Sports Affairs As has On effectively banned leopard trophy hunting throughout South Africa after it set provincial leopard trophy hunting quotas at zero for 2016.

The number of leopards in the country is unknown, and an urgent alert was sent that trophy hunting posed a high risk to the survival of the species.

Under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), South Africa may allocate 150 leopard trophy export permits annually. A warning appeared in the Government Gazette last year that stated that if the guidelines weren’t adhered to, quotas would be set to zero for 2016.

Guy Balme of the environmental NGO Panthera: ‘We just don’t know how leopards are faring in South Africa. They’re secretive, mainly nocturnal, solitary and range over huge areas. Counting them requires intensive research using expensive technology such as camera traps, which can only be deployed over small areas, far smaller than the areas in which hunting quotas are determined. It seems prudent that hunting should only continue once the appropriate measures are in place. Only then can we be confident that the practice is sustainable and not putting additional pressure on leopard populations already under a great deal of strain from other threats.”

The DEA stated that hunting would likely have a detrimental effect on the species’ survival.

The research authority found that leopards had a low reproductive rate, a fragmented distribution, an uncertain population trend, and that illegal harvesting in particular was not very well controlled as the rate of monitoring was low as only between 5% and 15% of leopard habitat was strictly protected.

The trophy ban will be in effect throughout this year. The scientific authority will then review the situation and will develop norms and standards for the management and monitoring of leopard hunting throughout the country.

Source: AfricaGeographic.com

See more at: World Animal News