In a difficult era for trophy hunting, Pieter Swart heads both SATTA and SUCo-SA

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA – Pieter Swart, the current President of the SA Taxidermy & Tannery Association (SATTA), was elected as the Sustainable Use Coalition Southern Africa (SUCo-SA)* Chairman late in 2023.  

He entered the wildlife industry as a part time professional hunter and outfitter in the early 90s shortly after he graduated as town and regional planner. In 2001 he established an export company trading in African wildlife products, specializing in horns and bones. A few years later he established a game skin tannery, and later expanded to include taxidermy mounts.

He is involved in and has held leadership positions in various industry associations, most notably, the Big Bore Association of Southern Africa (BASA), the National Confederation of Hunters’ Associations of SA (CHASA), SATTA and SUCo-SA. He represents SATTA on the Wildlife Forum. 

He focuses a lot of his time and energy on raising the profile and standard of the South African taxidermy industry,  and to create a voice and lobby group for the wildlife sector. He is a strong proponent of sustainable use and promotes the usage of all the products that nature provides. Together with the SUCo-SA teamc, he is working with all role players – government, related organizations and associations – to secure the future for a legitimate industry.

*The Sustainable Use Coalition Southern Africa is an organization that aims to promote biodiversity conservation through species enhancement and habitat conservation by advocating for sustainable use of natural resources. The coalition seeks to include other like-minded organizations within the Southern African landscape, covering areas related to wildlife, marine resources, plants/bioprospecting, and community-based and traditional use interests. The combined membership numbers of the founders exceed 70,000 people. To learn more, visit: https://suco-sa.org.za/.