Absalom Shigwedha
This was said by Environment Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah Friday. Nandi-Ndaitwah said they were also equally disturbed by the Kenyan registered helicopter which destroyed hundreds of nests of endangered seabirds when it attempted to land on Mercury Island.THE recent killing of a collared lion in a conservancy in the Kunene Region has come as a 'disappointment' to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said she could not understand how a professional hunter could kill a collared lion. "Some individuals do not just take things seriously," she said.
She added that having been a Girl Guide when she was young, she had developed a love of the environment and became disturbed when things such as the loss of the environment and wildlife took place.
The protected collared lion (known as Leonardo) was shot and killed in the Sesfontein conservancy and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism has laid charges against Keith Wright for illegal hunting of a protected species. The Ministry said Wright had a permit to shoot a lioness in the Anabeb Conservancy Area, but had no authorisation from the Ministry to hunt a lion in the Sesfontein Conservancy, where Leonardo was killed.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said the destruction of nests of seabirds at Mercury Island was a national loss.
"We have really been experiencing negative things recently," she added.
Last month, the Namibian Coast Conservation Management Project (Nacoma) described the the landing attempt of the Kenyan sight-seeing helicopter on Mercury Island off the coast of Lüderitz as the "most important catastrophe for coastal biodiversity in decades".She made these remarks when she officially opened a Scientific Symposium on Biodiversity and Development in Windhoek, to mark the International Day of Biodiversity on Saturday.
Sea-birds that were breeding on the Islands include the Bank Cormorant, African Penguin and Cape Gannet and around 600 incubated eggs and chicks were killed. Nacoma said all three species are only found in this region and are at risk of extinction.
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