“Wilding the Farm or Farming the Wild”? The Evolution of Scientific Game Ranching in South Africa from the 1960s to the Present

This article analyses in some detail the scientific developments relating to extensive game ranching for meat production in South Africa from the 1960s onwards. Initially, it recalls how game was utilised in South Africa in the nineteenth century and then reflects on the rise of the modern livestock industry and its detrimental effect on the herds of game that survived in the region into the twentieth century.