The N|A'ankusê Foundation has expressed its discontent with new regulations at the Ministry of Environment related to the keeping of large carnivores in captivity.

Director Dr. Rudie van Vuuren says the foundation has lodged an application with the High Court seeking that the regulations be put on hold for review.

Regulations relating to the keeping of large carnivores in captivity were gazetted on September 28 of this year.

Van Vuuren asserts that the regulations were gazetted without any industry stakeholder engagement.

"There are fewer than five organizations that work with large carnivores. The regulations were published without scientific proof, and some of them are impossible. We are not going to listen to people in the ministry who are not legal experts because this is what the law says; we will listen to what the law says as interpreted by the top legal people in this country."

Dr Van Vuuren is particularly dissatisfied with the requirement for five hectares in which to keep a carnivore in captivity.

These regulations, Van Vuuren promises, will have a long-term detrimental impact on the conservation of large carnivores in Namibia, arguing that the new rules fail to explore available opportunities in addressing carnivore-human conflict.

"There is a system behind how to manage carnivore conflicts, and the new regulations just blow those systems out of the water, and it's not based on scientific evidence. We at N|A'ankusê will keep fighting for what is right; it's not right that animals are killed; it's not right that regulations are made without stakeholder consultation; we are not a social system; we are a democracy; we have constitutional rights, and one of them is fair administrative justice."

Meanwhile, the Ministry's Spokesperson, Romeo Muyuinda, says all stakeholders involved with carnivore conservation and management were consulted in 2018 and their contributions were incorporated into the new regulations.

Muyunda further noted that the regulations are aimed at improving the conditions under which large carnivores are kept in captive facilities.