Hertha Ekandjo
The Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta says people
should understand that the reason why Namibia has many extinct birds is because of
illegal bird hunting.
Shifeta advised that if one wants to go bird hunting, they should approach the Ministry's
offices for a permit,which he says costs around N$10.
This comes after Josephine Johannes, a resident of Oshivelo in the Oshikoto region, was
arrested on Sunday for allegedly selling the meat of wild birds.
The Minister explained the bird species she was caught with might be of a protected
species.
He said some of the bird species in the country are already extinct, and no one is allowed
to shoot at just any bird in the wild as it is prohibited by the law.
"The constitution is clear that we must protect and maintain our ecosystem, not only for
the current generation but the generations to come. That is the constitution mandate of
Article 95," he said.
"Just go to the offices and get a permit. There you will be told how many to shoot," he
told The Villager.
Johannes appeared in court on Monday and was granted a N$5,000 bail, when he was
allegedly found in possession of cooked or grilled wild birds.
The police said that Johannes was found in possession of five guinea fowls, 33 francolins
and nine doves, during an intelligence-driven operation conducted by the police at
Oshivelo and the Ministry's officials.
Shifeta said that now is the haunting season and those that want to haunt birds should
get a hunting permit, adding it is listed in the gazette.
"I have gazetted them in the list last month. The whole month until September one can
collect a permit."
At the end of April, the Ministry announced the start of the hunting season for huntable
game and game birds, from 1 May to 31 July.
The Ministry, during the announcement, said a hunting permit may be applied for a
farm not less than 1,000 hectares in size.
The Ministry prohibites the use of shotguns when it comes to hunting birds.

Meanwhile, legal practitioner Halweendo Nafimane says that law enforcement needs to
make sense.
"So that if there is an offence that prohibits the hunting of certain animals, they must be
rational as to why the hunting of that animal is prohibited, maybe because it is a rare
species and it needs to be preserved in order to preserve the ecosystem," he said.
Halweendo emphasised that the law must not be used to abuse people arbitrarily.
"You have to look at the nature of the offence, to see whether the offence really makes
sense. We have been hunting doves and other wild birds since childhood," he explained.
According to him, arresting some because of selling cooked wild birds because they are
trying to make a living does not make sense.
He noted that such laws, if they exist, need to be looked at, because they are laws that
are oppressing the country's people.
Moreover, he explained that this does not mean that protected species should not be
protected but one needs to look at the areas that some of the citizens are living and
animals in the area and the process of acquiring the haunting permit.