With the private game farms, some more context for people who are not familiar with them. They are generally facilities with 100's of acres of land and high fences around the perimeters to keep the animals in and the poachers etc out. Each animal has a dollar value associated with them. A Blesbok(type of Antelope) goes for about $400(what they charge a hunter if they get one) and it goes up to $50,000+ to get a Cape Buffalo.
Needless to say there is a lot of incentive to take care of the animals. For example one time I was visiting a family member that owns a Cape Buffalo farm in South Africa when someone left one of the gates open overnight. The herd of 50 got out and went a few miles down the road. That day was a "all hands on deck" to herd the ~2.5 million dollars of live stock back to the farm. There was a vet on stand by and they brought in a helicopter to do a survey and assist. The operation makes makes money for him, he employs a people and brings in money from tourists etc. and he is incentivised, by money he makes from his business, to take care of the animals.
This is in sharp contrast to the government of South Africa that has trouble taking care of the basics for the majority of the population, like education, at times maintaining reliable electricity (ask people there about the Escomm rolling power cuts when the grid is over capacity, or water in Cape Town... the water crisis has much more to do with poor utility management than climate change), most middle class people hire armed response private security services and don't rely on the police for security, etc..
Another relative works for a company the does municipal land valuations for tax assessments. It is not uncommon that they will get a contract, perform all of the things required for the contract, but then the municipality will hold off on paying (6+ months) until his company takes legal action, puts on lien on the municipalities assets and begins to seize them by going in and physically starting to take furniture, cars etc..
Some brought up a good point with the conservation efforts to hunt the older animals in the wild. Those permits can help to fund the conservation effort, but given how corrupt the government is there, someone with money could pay off a bureaucrat to look the other way with a permit etc... and then will the money actually be put into conservation efforts.
I could write a book on this (and have to an extent here) but this is in one of the larger, more developed economies in Africa that some refer to as “Africa Light”. Now imagine what is happening in African countries with even less functional governments.
> ask people there about the Escomm rolling power cuts
Glad you asked. The power utility is called Eskom. I like in Tshwane and we don't experience 'rolling power cuts'. Not sure why you think making a comparison between a private game farm(er) and national govt service provision connects with giraffe conservation efforts
With the private game farms, some more context for people who are not familiar with them. They are generally facilities with 100's of acres of land and high fences around the perimeters to keep the animals in and the poachers etc out. Each animal has a dollar value associated with them. A Blesbok(type of Antelope) goes for about $400(what they charge a hunter if they get one) and it goes up to $50,000+ to get a Cape Buffalo.
Needless to say there is a lot of incentive to take care of the animals. For example one time I was visiting a family member that owns a Cape Buffalo farm in South Africa when someone left one of the gates open overnight. The herd of 50 got out and went a few miles down the road. That day was a "all hands on deck" to herd the ~2.5 million dollars of live stock back to the farm. There was a vet on stand by and they brought in a helicopter to do a survey and assist. The operation makes makes money for him, he employs a people and brings in money from tourists etc. and he is incentivised, by money he makes from his business, to take care of the animals.
This is in sharp contrast to the government of South Africa that has trouble taking care of the basics for the majority of the population, like education, at times maintaining reliable electricity (ask people there about the Escomm rolling power cuts when the grid is over capacity, or water in Cape Town... the water crisis has much more to do with poor utility management than climate change), most middle class people hire armed response private security services and don't rely on the police for security, etc..
Another relative works for a company the does municipal land valuations for tax assessments. It is not uncommon that they will get a contract, perform all of the things required for the contract, but then the municipality will hold off on paying (6+ months) until his company takes legal action, puts on lien on the municipalities assets and begins to seize them by going in and physically starting to take furniture, cars etc..
Some brought up a good point with the conservation efforts to hunt the older animals in the wild. Those permits can help to fund the conservation effort, but given how corrupt the government is there, someone with money could pay off a bureaucrat to look the other way with a permit etc... and then will the money actually be put into conservation efforts.
I could write a book on this (and have to an extent here) but this is in one of the larger, more developed economies in Africa that some refer to as “Africa Light”. Now imagine what is happening in African countries with even less functional governments.