Sanlam cancels hunting trip after rights groups complain
March 03, 2009 Edition 2
Natasha Joseph
INVESTMENT giant Sanlam has cancelled a planned hunting expedition for "a select group of about five clients" after receiving complaints from animal rights organisations.
The trip was due to have been held from May 21 to 23 in Adelaide in the Eastern Cape.
Sanlam Investment Management spokeswoman Claire Rabe said "a select group of about five clients" who were "regular experienced hunters" had been invited on the "client relationship building" trip.
She denied that Sanlam used policyholders' money to fund such events.
"We do not spend policyholders' money on these events," she said. "They are, without exception, funded from fees generated from within the business. Therefore no policyholder fees have ever been used for this purpose."
She was "unsure of what the ultimate budget would have been" because the event had been cancelled.
The event was to have been co-ordinated by East Cape Plains Game Safaris.
On the company's website, prospective clients are offered the opportunity to hunt 27 different type of animal.
These include East Cape kudu, Cape springbok, blesbok, white blesbok, bontebok, impala, red mountain reedbuck, baboons and vervet monkeys.
The website says that "in the interest of humane hunting", all hunters must "submit to a basic shooting skills test before being granted permission to enter the hunting area".
It adds: "Only ethical walk-and-stalk hunting is permitted, and the minimum calibre to be hunted with is 7mm or .270.
"Please note that we also cater for handgun and black powder hunting. The hunting area stretches over 30 000 hectares, from the Koonap River Valley at 1 500ft above sea level, to the Winterberg at 7 500ft. There is access to a private landing strip near Fort Beaufort."
Different packages are available for "the discerning trophy hunter", with hunters charged between $3 380 (R35 000) and $6 250 (R66 000) each, depending on the duration of their stay and the package they choose.
"Sanlam is taking the reaction to this trip extremely seriously," Rabe said. "We pride ourselves on being a business that holds the needs of our policyholders and investors at the very centre of all that we do. For this reason, if we establish that any Sanlam activity is concerning to our clients, we treat these concerns with the utmost importance."
She said "urgent discussions" would be held internally "to formulate the group's future policy about hunting".
Allan Perrins, the chief executive officer of the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, said after hearing of Sanlam's decision that he was "grateful" that Sanlam had decided to cancel the hunt, but "disappointed that it was ever mooted as an idea".
Before hearing of the group's decision, Perrins said: "The SPCA is opposed to hunting in any form, particularly trophy hunting. I'm concerned that a big player in the insurance industry is promoting hunting."
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