Episode 469 - Ron Thomson || Old School Elephant Culling

Ron Thomson is a former 25-year Zimbabwe Parks Board veteran who was involved in wildlife management’s heyday in the 60’s through the 80’s. Ron was involved in elephant management - including so-called ‘precision removal’ of elephants, i.e., a population control mechanism called culling. Culling is an extremely controversial topic and has been eradicated from all elephant management today. It was removed from management because it was seen by as cruel and unethical. Culling was a tool to maintain elephants at a certain level (i.e., Kruger Park at 7,500 elephants). He and Robbie catch up about Ron’s storied career, what it was like ‘back in the day’, his thoughts on elephants today, and old school stories of Zim. This is the first in a series of podcasts around elephants in Africa. Its such a strongly emotive topic, but there is no greater conversation needed than the successful management of elephants.

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Music: Migration by Ian Post (Winter Solstice), licensed through artlist.io

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