Wildlife: Fighting a drug war with a difference
Game vets say a growing SA industry is being harmed by limitations to the import of drugs used to calm and tranquillise animals
Potentially draconian regulations governing the import of active ingredients for wildlife drugs could affect the growth of SA’s R20bn/year wildlife industry. The industry could contribute as much as R100bn to the economy by 2025, says Wildlife Ranching SA (WRSA), if its growth is not constrained. But drugs used to calm or tranquillise game are no longer available in SA, forcing farms to use outdated methods of catching and calming animals. In 2013, under pressure from the World Health Organisation (WHO), SA’s Medicines Control Council (MCC) and agriculture, the forestry & fisheries department began clamping down on the import of certain ingredients. “It used to be easy to get import permits. Now it is almost impossible,” says Johan Oosthuyse, CEO of V-Tech, a pharmaceutical firm producing drugs for specialist wildlife vets.
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