There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
10-18-2021, 10:43 PM( This post was last modified: 10-18-2021, 10:49 PM by RookiePundit )
(10-18-2021, 05:37 AM)silly girl Wrote:
(10-14-2021, 06:51 PM)lionuk Wrote: Latest update from Tintswalo Safari Lodge:
A word from Alistair...
So please understand that we do care about Red Road. Please be patient with us as we collect more video footage for you and we will definitely keep you updated as soon as we have any more information for you. The only time we would ever intervene with an injured animal is if this injury was caused as a result of any human interaction. We cannot interfere with what nature has written for the animals of our incredible reserve. This is up to her and not us.
I remember Tristan had to make a similar statement when Maribye's had his puff adder bite.
I completely understand their position in not "interfering" with nature, but I also understand and see where the social media concerns arise from. These lodges/enterprises no doubt profit heavily from RRM and all their lions, they goto the effort to name them (which like it or not, does engender more sentimental bonding from the general public), highlight them in videos by name, and they know people come to their lodge to see those "XYZ" lions, so some people logically expect in return for "interfering" with their lives by tracking, viewing, and videotaping them as well as making profit off them, some medical or other care can be done for these animals when when they are injured, lost etc.
There is also the dichotomy which many know about in regards to "conservation": for example the very same week the Vet Joel had removed the snare from RRM because it was "man-made", he had been videotaped injecting (darting) several Manyeleti lionesses with birth control. So to many, although the actions done for conservation, limiting lion populations because of limited resources, its a "human interference" - if you can inject some lionesses with birth control why not give RRM a shot of antibiotic for the abscess or painkiller to improve his quality of life?
And then there is the comparison with the Massai Mara, also making money off of their iconic lions, who go through great efforts to interfere. How many dozens of surgeries did Scarface go through on his eye over the years? And they recently surgically saved one of the males in the Black Rock Male coalition there, who had a serious femoral injury from a territorial fight with another male almost identical to what the Styx male just died from (presumed by the Mhangeni's). If they do it they do it in Kenya, why not S. Africa?
I'm not one to be harassing the rangers or guides, I enjoy their videos as much as anyone. I just wanted to help explain why there are sometimes are these comments, concerns, or "expectations to help" when a "star" (named) animal is injured.
Anyway, I'm very glad to see RRM is doing so much better than we all predicted given the prior statements made without any interference!
Contraception as birth control (while I don't see the reason why they did it in Manyeleti, other than perhaps concerns for inbred genetic pool, I don't recall the details) is bit different animal than artificially prologing a particular animal's longevity and competitiveness. Masai Mara does it wrong, they treat particular males to make them more epic and marketable and unique while putting new generation(s) of nomadic males in disadvantages. For profit. They alos have widespread problem with too many cars flocking too a big 5 sightings to the extent of altering animal behaviour (afaik).
Any individual animal can infuence intraspecific dynamics, but also interspecific. If we were to interfere and treat injured or weak antelope species we are influencing abundance of prey. Even dying carnivore is its body worth of nutrient important for the ecosystem. If there is no need to interference due to ivory, horns etc, carcass is a carcass and preferably should not be interefer with.
There is a practical point as well - if tranquilize animals for treatment quite regularly, they won't be that habituated and start to avoid rangers' cars damaging the safari industry in the process. Man cause issues and potential disease outbreaks are a different thing, but putting individual animals out of their misery while toughr to witness is not a sound approach becasue you blur lines. We can argue that man affaceting the compositon of the landscape, like dam and waterholes influences the environment making it more suitable for some species and less for others (competition) or artificially changing density of particular species as a side effect, that is ofc true, but as for Sabi Sands etc. landscape was already altered as former farmland so there is no clear right way anyway. And then they are justifiable cases of critically endangered or otherwise (locally) specific species where every individual/group is important and espacially in case of naturally solitary species with already low density, the impact on others is minimal, intraspecific for sure and interspecific void from a missing predator would be filled by another, perhasp more abundant species over time anyway.
Give me South African approach any time.
Edit: I wanted to say contraception is, besides inbreeding, a population number management not an intervention for the sake of an individual animals, unlike others mentioned above.