Restoring AFRICAN BUFFALO Legacy
The decline and recovery of trophy buffalo in South Africa
African buffalo populations in South Africa have been subjected to many challenges for over two centuries. With the introduction of firearms onto the continent by white settlers, buffalo were hunted indiscriminately for sport, drastically reducing their populations creating a genetic bottleneck. They suffered a further blow to their numbers with the rinderpest pandemic of 1892/93, which all but wiped out the local population. The erection of veterinary fences to control the movement of wildlife in an attempt to restrict the effects of foot and mouth disease on livestock further exacerbated the population decline. Remaining buffalo populations were sequestered in government-owned game reserves in the Kruger National Park, Natal Parks and Addo National Park. Veterinary disease control measures prevented the interbreeding of these populations, which resulted in the further genetic stagnation of these sub-populations.
Research carried out by Prof. Pim van Hooft, at the request of WRSA, clearly shows the benefits that private ownership, the importation of buffalo from other parts of Africa for breeding and the swapping and/or sale of bulls between ranchers have brought to the genetic diversity of buffalo in South Africa. As a result, it has been possible for privately owned buffalo to be selected and better trophy production.
With the advent of privatisation of game farming in South Africa when private landowners were permitted to own wildlife, a number of changes occurred in the fortunes of South African buffalo: the disease-free buffalo breeding initiative was established at the Kruger National Park, which
