Wildlife Breeders Journal 2016

eeding
culminated in a new profitable form of
land use: game farming. This activity on its
own has shown that it can succeed and has
been compared to a diamond, thus having
many facets. Examples thereof are tourism,
hunting, research and the production of byproducts
such as biltong, venison and hides
(Young, 1992).
Through an evolutionary process, game
farming has become more focussed in
certain instances leading to intensive wildlife
production. As wildlife production increases,
more rare animals are entering the market,
with major economic and conservation
impact. In extensive production systems
the growth rate of rare wildlife populations
is often retarded. Recent realisation that
such animals can be intensively produced
economically and practicably feasible,
provided new stimulus and input into wildlife
production in southern Africa (Bothma & van
Rooyen, 2006).
There is a growing demand for a diversity
of species in the Wildlife Ranching and
Ecotourism Industry. The smaller antelope
have, however, been neglected to date and
their numbers have probably declined in
several areas. Various reasons can be given
for this, one of which is the fact that very
few of these animals are made available to
interested buyers and the breeding of these
species has thus not been tried on and tested
commercially. By now it has been proven by
other species that the most reliable way of
ensuring the future existence of any species
lies in attempts to create a monetary value for
each of them, which in turn should motivate
farmers to breed them, thereby ensuring the
distribution and natural increase in their
population numbers.
animals on land suitable for development
can simply be removed and put into a
captive breeding facility. This may ultimately
work against the objectives of small antelope
conservation, especially considering that
the success of rehabilitation of captive bred
animals into the wild has not been well tested.
Captive breeding must therefore only be seen
as a management tool to ultimately support
the return of animals into natural habitat,
and must not be seen as a conservation tool
in isolation to conserving small antelope
species in their natural habitats.
Source animals are from (1) a population
that is ‘doomed’ i.e. population is under
imminent threat of extinction due to land use
change or poaching, and where there are no
options for natural movement of animals to
contribute to a larger meta-population, (2) a
population at or above maximum productivity
carrying capacity (i.e. at or above 75% of
ecological carrying capacity) or a level at
which Provincial conservation agencies are
prepared to grant a capture permit, or (3)
animals that are injured or imprinted and are
hence non-releasable.
• The purpose is to ensure that there are no
extra negative impacts on wild populations;
it is undesirable to remove animals from
wild populations where these populations
are below carrying capacity, or where
options exist to translocate animals to
other areas of natural habitat.
• In all cases status of populations (doomed
populations, populations above maximum
productivity carrying capacity, and nonreleasable
animals) is to be assessed by an
authorised representative.
The main objective of the Small Game
Breeders Association SA (SGBASA) is to
promote the conservation of all the small
antelopes in their natural habitats. One of the
biggest threats to small antelope species is
habitat loss and fragmentation. While captive
breeding may contribute towards achieving
the goals of the SGBASA, there is also a risk
that providing captive breeding as an option
will result in more land transformation and
habitat loss based upon the perception that
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