326 Sport hunting of elephant in Zimbabwe: a case study of Kanyurira Ward in Guruve districtFigure 2. Total number of hunts and hunting days(Figure 2). Only a very small proportion (1.5%) of the mature elephant
population is harvested in any one year. This translates into 10% of the
annual increment in the elephant population (Martin and Thomas 1991).
The impact of sport hunting on the overall elephant population within any
given area is therefore very low.
Typically, after an elephant has been shot and killed by a hunter, and the
requisite photographs have been taken, the elephant’s tusks (the trophy) are
removed. However, clients often claim the feet and panels of the hide as well.
In Kanyurira, the safari operator is obliged, under terms of his contract, to
make the meat available to the community. Depending on where the elephant
is shot, people are either transported to the carcass or it is butchered and the
meat transported to a central distribution point. Members of the Ward Wildlife
Committee or their employees ensure that the meat is equitably distributed
among households.
In terms of the lease agreement the council receives 40% of the gross
earnings generated from sport hunting by the safari operator. The council, in
accordance with the principles of the CAMPFIRE programme, then pays the
Ward Wildlife Committee a portion of the hunting revenue received from the
safari operator. In Guruve, approximately 70% of the revenue that accrues to
the council is disbursed annually to the producer wards. The ward in which
the animal was shot receives the trophy fee for the particular animal, plus a
proportion of the daily rates. The major part of the revenue that is retained
by the council goes towards the management of wildlife, and a smaller portion
(usually about 15%) is retained as a management levy. Finally, it is the
responsibility of the Ward Wildlife Committee to distribute the revenue
equitably (as ‘dividends’) to all registered households within the Kanyurira18sporthunting.P65 326 22/12/2004, 11:05