Tragic: Botswana Lifts 2014 Elephant Hunting Ban
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The African nation that’s home to roughly a third of the country’s 415,000 elephants has delivered a harsh but unsurprising blow to conservationists in lifting a five-year ban on hunting these intelligent animals.
Botswana’s Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation, and Tourism said in a Wednesday statement.
“The number and high levels of human-elephant conflict and the consequent impact on livelihoods was increasing.”
It came after President Mokgweetsi Masisi, running for re-election, ordered a review of the hunting ban imposed by his predecessor, prompting recommendations of “regular but limited elephant culling” and the “establishment of elephant meat canning” for pet food in February.
The ministry says it will “ensure that re-instatement of hunting is done in an orderly and ethical manner.” If that happens it would surprise most.
Since then, the ministry says it has consulted with communities, local authorities, tourism operators, NGOs, and conservationists and “the general consensus … was that the hunting ban should be lifted.”
Some communities complained elephants were expanding into new territory, destroying crops, and sometimes killing people. But conservationists argue this is a result of climate change, one of several factors, including poaching, causing elephant populations to decline.
Conservationists say the lifting of the ban won’t help a population already at risk of extinction, per CNN. In fact, they say it could make elephants more aggressive, per the Guardian, while some fear legal ivory sales are next on the horizon.
The BBC points out the move may be seen as a way to raise Masisi’s standing with rural voters ahead of an October election. Once again politics destroys innocent lives.
Edited from Newser…
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