Unfortunately, WildEarth had to make the decision to stop broadcasting from Karongwe with immediate effect. The reason for this decision is that in 2013 a male lion called Zero was
trophy-hunted in the reserve. While we are not aware of any other hunts having happened since that time, we cannot take the chance that any of the animals you’ve come to know and
love would fall victim to a similar fate. We’ve explained this to the reserve owners and the call to stop broadcasting from Karongwe was then made in consultation with them.
At this point, WE apologise to all of you for not having done our due diligence properly and WE do assure you that we will do better on this whenever we move into a new area in the
future. We also want to point out that this does not mean we will stop working with EcoTraining, who are doing a lot of conservation and education work across Africa; we
intend to keep working on our partnership with them in different locations. Karongwe and EcoTraining are separate entities.
There will no doubt be many questions with regard to this situation and therefore WE have decided that Graham will hold a special town hall today 30 minutes after the end of the Sunset Safari to
discuss the situation and our response with you. (18:30 CAT, 12:30 PM EST, 9:30 AM PST, 16:30 GMT, 17:30 BST, 18:30 CET). As always, the townhall will be accessible on the wildearth.tv site only,
through http://221212.wildearth.tv/club. In order to join and ask questions, you will need to have an account on our website (this is free) and be logged in.
Again, we apologise for having not done our homework properly and any concerns this might have caused.
WildEarth to stop broadcasting from Karongwe – Graham to hold town hall after the Sunset Drive
About the Author: Peter
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I can see why this was necessary. First, there is the concept that perhaps one of the main characters in the WE world might be killed in such a manner. More important is that the vast majority of the supporters of WE are against canned hunting and any connection between this p
ractice and WE could be devastating for the future – especially financial support. I shall miss seeing Karongwe but understand.
Perhaps you could use this as an education opportunity and also get both sides of the story.
Why should the reserve not be allowed to generate income in this way? Sure this one hunt goes a long way in protecting the rest of the habitat and indirectly all the other species on the reserve. Or maybe the landowner should get rid of all the wildlife, as they use to, and just farm livestock, such as cattle, sheep, goats or other forms of agriculture.
Pretty sure you could not generate the income that that hunt did for the sustainability of the reserve. A balanced approach is needed.
Me and my family have loved your drives during the lockdown and the guides are all awesome.
You have a fantastic platform to educate people around the world on what goes on in Africa, good and bad. Dont shy away from difficult topics, there is place for hunting, when done in a sustainable manner, in conservation. If it pays it stays.
Find the balance between ecotourism and hunting sustainably.
My name is Gwendolyn, and I posted the previous comment about you knowing already. After I posted it, it told me it was ‘awaiting moderation’. I know exactly whAt happened the last time my comment was ‘moderated’ when I made my discovery and told fellow dam cam watchers…they were immediately interested and ready to hear what I had to say…then the moderators stepped in. ALL I WANT, is an explanation, and for you to have the courage to post my comment and perhaps even answer my allegation. If you do not, I will take it to my many followers on Twitter (I run a podcast). This isn’t over. I would like an explanation as to this ‘homework’ and ‘due diligence’ question when I told you after a five minute search that Karongwe engaged in CANNED TROPHY HUNTING. I was immediately censored by WE and no one, not ONE from WE, addressed my announcement- just said that it not appropriate to discuss karongwe’s past activities…well, my fellow dam watchers were VERY interested until you censored me.
Hi Gwendolyn, our chat rooms are not the place to discuss such issues as we try (not always successfully) to keep them focused on what is on screen. This is not censorship but moderation which are two very different things. On the blog, we only approve comments a couple of times per week which is done to counter spam posts, again … not for censorship purposes. Furthermore, threatening exposure (of what exactly?) is unbecoming and unwarranted. Simply do what you feel you need to do but don’t link it to allegations of non-existing cover-ups or perceived censorship. You are correct that we did not do our due diligence. We were upfront about this after this was brought to our attention. We then apologised and took, we think, appropriate action and are adjusting our procedures to avoid recurrence. That is all there is to it.
ya good afternoon, my name is ismail siddiqui today now i’am going to tell again something about nature, one time when i and my family were going to amrabad tiger reserve, we were passing the gate then after that few seconds a tiger passed after us and then till we were coming to home we could’nt see any tiger. thank u
wildlife is interesting i noticed when i went with my family to different places, also i read the magazines,books, newspapers and etc etc.so i also love wildlife so so so much while my father also love wildlife and nature , even i also love nature so much ,
i’am glad to share u my experience about wildlife, bye
Appreciate your taking this STAND… Yes a Trophy Hunt brings a lot of revenue to the Park but without a strong and supportive Stand against such hunts; nothing will change… Bravo for your actions
Bedankt daarvoor ik kijk ook uit naar de bijeenkomst Fan kijker van de Djuma ik kijk elke dag live mee mooie natuur en stille geluiden
Thank you for all you wonderful work! Peggy
When is it starting?
I was thrilled to have Tayla back with the drives, so I am extremely disappointed about this. She has always been one of my favorites. I understand the need to keep the animals safe, however. Since the entire reserve is fenced, doesn’t that provide a lot of protection for them? Do they have anti-poaching teams in place?
A trophy hunt is an organized hunt by the owners of the property it is not poaching. The hunter pays a large sum of money to the reserve owner and is often taken to the lion where they shoot it and post the pictures on social media. Have a look into the canned hunting, trophy hunting, cub petting and big cat pet trade in South Africa. It is devastating and I am so glad that WE has taken a stand.
As a side note, any place that offers cub petting, photos with teen cats, walking with lions, cheetahs and often trophy hunting is engaged in the captive breeding trade. Lions for example are over bred in terrible conditions, cubs taken from their mother at a few days old to be sold to cub petting and interactions or zoos all over, when the cat is too old and big to be handled or be cute it is either put back onto the breeding farm or into canned/trophy hunting and the bone trade. The lies about cubs being abandoned/orphaned etc are just a marketing gimmick.
Watch the documentary Blood Lions and you will see the reality.
Thanks for that – looking forward to the meeting.
Well, I really enjoyed Noelle’s guest appearances at Djuma. I don’t know what reserve she works on or what their history is. Just throwing in my opinion.
Are there other Eco Training reserves you can utilise?
Ps. Thanks for keeping us sane during the lockdown. We are missing the bush.
Jude
This makes me sad.
I was looking forward to watching out little cheetah babies grow up.
But I know you have to do what is BEST for the animals.
Thank you for your love and dedication to the wildlife.
Rest in Power Zero- I have to tell you though, when you partnered with Karongwe, it took me all of FIVE MINUTES to find out that Karongwe ‘culled’ their lion prides by selling them to the highest bidder in a disgraceful ‘canned hunting’ trophy hunt. On one of the safari rides, Lauren pointed to ‘Sub-Zero’, and named him as the Pride male, it was then I began the research. Literally MINUTES later, I made my discovery official by announcing what I found out on the 24/7 dam cam, it immediately got attention from concerned WE safari lovers…but the mods, can you guess what they did? They announced ‘this is not the time or pace to discuss the activities of Karongwe’…YOU KNEW. Don’t say you’re sorry and say you didn’t do your ‘due diligence’…YOU KNEW. And then removed my comment and tried to silence the discovery. I am deeply disappointed in WE. I thought you were better than that.
Why did you not rather bring it to our attention and ask us about this on one of the various emails available to contact us directly? Our moderators were correct in stating the dam cam chat room is not the correct place for this.
Thank you for your ethical standards. That is one of the main reasons we all support WE.
Please read my comment on WE already knowing about Karongwe engaging in canned trophy hunting and how they quieted me. I am hoping that they respond to me and give me some palatable explanation, but don’t be so quick to thank them for their ‘ethical standards’. I have a feeling I’ll be silenced again, so I’m screen-capturing your (and all) comments along with my own I’m case I need to go to twitter and other modalities with them. Thank you.
I agree. Guessing that the reserve owners are not against trophy hunting. It just makes the occasional drives with Tayla that much more special.