It is not clear at this writing how imminent the implementation of this plan is; or, indeed, whether it is going to be implemented at all. However, news of the plan created a mini-tidal wave of e-mails near press time predicting the end of hunting as we know it in Zimbabwe. Here at The Hunting Report, we share some of the concerns being expressed, but hasten to add that the plan does not call for any changes in the way hunting and wildlife management are conducted on public land, which is where most of the hunting in Zimbabwe occurs now. For two years now, we have been warning you to be careful of hunts on private land. The latest move only makes that warning more important.
The new government plan is not without its critics inside Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Conservation & Development Foundation and other stakeholders are attempting to raise the alarm as this issue goes to press. How successful they will be remains to be seen.
On other matters in Zimbabwe, if you have a hunt booked there this summer, get set to pay more money to get your trophies out of the country. Seems National Parks has started charging an extra 2 percent of what is called the CITES value of trophies before they will be cleared for export. According to Michelle Nash with a Zimbabwe company called Maple Freight, the CITES value of a trophy is calculated by using the trophy fee value of each animal, plus the processing values (if any). She goes on to describe........(continued)
