We told you last year about the game ranch hunts that Bernon was operating there on a property owned by a French mining company. (See Article ID No. 2055.) The 37,000 acres of fenced rainforest that comprise the property offer hunting for sitatunga, dwarf forest buffalo, duikers and other species. The first hunts took place in 2007, but Bernon has been managing the property since 2006, committing a huge investment to the hunt program there with a number of staff in the field year round.
Among the demands the government is making is that Bernon employ only native PHs and open the property to hunting by locals. The government also wants control of trophy fees and quota, despite the hunt area being a fenced private property. Bernon suspects that the government's change of attitude towards his program is the result of anti-hunting NGO's that have great influence in Gabon. Bernon is trying to work things out, but in the interim is offering clients a full refund or the opportunity to hunt elsewhere. Club Faune also operates in France, Tanzania, Benin, CAR and Cameroon.
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