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 Persecution and HuntingTrophy and Sport Hunting: Page 5 In South Africa, the Quagga (Equus quagga), a zebra-like equine, became extinct from hunting. Some zoologists consider these animals to have been a race of Burchell's Zebra (Equus burchelli), but others classify them as a full species. They had black, vertical stripes on the head and neck, while their back and haunches were uniform grayish or faintly striped. Native to the Cape Colony grassy plains, their limited and open habitat made them vulnerable to the Boer settlers, who killed them by the thousands (Day 1981). Many were tamed and used to guard domestic livestock at night because they gave loud alarm calls upon seeing predators (Day 1981). Some were even shipped to London and used as harness animals. The Boers used their skins for sacks and other practical purposes. By the 1850s, it had nearly disappeared from the Orange River area from relentless hunting (Nowak 1999). The last wild Quagga was killed in 1878, and in 1883, the last captive Quagga died in the Amsterdam Zoo (Day 1981). Photographs (Nowak 1999) and specimen skins exist with DNA that has been compared with living zebras. There has been talk of restoring a Quagga-like animal through selective breeding with Plains Zebras.
Many other South African species were reduced to endangered status or eliminated from the country altogether by Boer hunting and their policy of clearing the land for livestock and agriculture. Although many parks have been set aside, wildlife as a whole has been crowded out of its natural environments in South Africa. Elephants became restricted to an area in the northeast that later became Kruger National Park, and only recently have they been reintroduced into a few parks elsewhere. Zebras have become extremely rare, with several races critically endangered (see Grasslands, Shrublands and Deserts chapter).
The high-altitude Simien Mountains National Park (6,234 to 14,535 feet) has many endangered endemics. A Survival Anglia film, “Edge of the Abyss,” records many of these species, including the Walia Ibex (Capra walie), a mountain goat found only in Ethiopia. It has a population of about 300 in the park and stays above 10,000 feet, browsing in the giant heath. These goats were common until the 1930s when hunting decimated their numbers. They also have lost habitat to agriculture and livestock. By the 1960s, there were only 200 Walia Ibex in the park, and although they have recovered somewhat, they still are poached for their magnificent, massive curved horns, hides and meat. Poachers enter the park and place nooses on the narrow mountain trails they must use to travel from one part of the park to another.
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