Book Review: Game Ranch Management 6th Edition
This sixth edition of Game Ranch Management is a hot-off the press handbook for the management of wildlife ranches in Southern Africa. The 1,012 pages have been edited by J du P Bothma, professor emeritus and former director of the Center for Wildlife Management of the University of Pretoria and by wildlife veterinarian Dr J G du Toit.
The updated individual chapters plus completely new chapters were written by 39 experts in various fields and contain with extensive new information. Although this textbook has been conceptualized for the southern African wildlife rancher and undergraduate and postgraduate students of wildlife management, it contains valuable information at an affordable price for the visiting hunter who cares – as she or he should – to learn more about southern African wildlife, its management and sustainable use. Of particular relevance to the hunter are the following chapters (and the extensive bibliography appended to each chapter):
a) Antelope and other smaller herbivores which deal with the habitat requirements, general characteristics and live histories of 36 species;
b) A review of lion on game ranches – of importance in the current debate on canned lion shooting;
c) J du P Bothma and H J Sartorius von Bach review the hunting industry; together with other authors they delve deeper into the hunting subject in various sub-chapters which include international guidelines of IUCN and CIC, trophy hunting, resident hunting, hunting methods, including ‘canned shooting’ (erroneously referred to by the authors as ‘canned hunting’), trophy measurement and handling, etc.;
d) The habitat chapter deals with the varied southern African biomes and – important in relation with the current drought in the region – discusses climate change;
e) In the chapter on the ‘role of African Rural People and their Environment’, the editors and authors analyze the Afro-Centric Approach versus the European and North American Principles of Conservation
Game Ranch Management – 6th Edition (2016). J du P Bothma and J G du Toit (Eds). Hardover, 1012 pages. Van Schaik Publishers, Pretoria www.vanschaiknet.com; ISBN 978 0 627 03346 9. Price excluding postage ZAR 899 (ca. USD 58.00 or EUR 52.00)