Botswana issues 400 elephant hunting licenses, drawing fresh opposition
Botswana issues 400 elephant hunting licenses, drawing fresh opposition
Mqondisi Dube, VOA
December 23, 2024
Botswana has issued 400 elephant hunting licenses amid fresh opposition
from conservationists. International hunters pay up to $50,000 to obtain a
license in order to hunt an elephant.
In a recent notice from the Wildlife and National Parks department, the
elephants are among other wildlife species that will be offered to hunters.
Botswana’s hunting season runs from April to November, attracting
enthusiasts from abroad.
However, a group of local and international conservationists has petitioned
Botswana’s new government, which came into power after the Oct. 30 general
election, to stop the practice of trophy hunting.
Oaitse Nawa of the nonprofit Elephant Protection Society is part of those
petitioning the government against hunting the big game. He said the
organization is surprised the government has released the hunting quota for
the new season.
“We did a petition — the idea was to ask the government to take time, to
stop the elephant quota in the meantime because there was not enough
consultation regarding all the stakeholders,” Nawa said. “For this quota to
come out, it was a big surprise to us.”
The government held a consultative meeting at the beginning of December to
decide on the number of animals to put up for the shoot.
Nawa said the group wants the new government to intervene and stop the
hunts.
“It is a very big concern looking at the fact that hunting does not benefit
the community,” he said. “Anything that has to do with hunting has to be
reviewed. Remember, we are still dealing with the old regime and we are not
surprised to see them come up with these numbers.”
The government said nearly $3 million was raised by communities in the
previous hunting season, mainly from the sale of elephant licenses.
Conservationists opposed to the hunts argue the targeting of male elephants
disturbs the animals’ breeding patterns.
The chief executive of the Botswana Wildlife Producers Association, Isaac
Theophilus, backs hunting.
“The petition to government is unfortunate and misguided,” he said. “Trophy
hunting does not target prime breeding bulls. It is highly selective. It
targets animals that are past their breeding prime. So it [hunting] will
nowhere affect the breeding patterns.”
Wildlife management expert biologist Dr. Erik Verreynne said hunting will
not disturb elephant populations in Botswana.
“It is possible that hunting activity in an area can affect the movements
of a breeding herd,” he said, “but if we see it within the larger context
of 400 bulls being hunted in a population of 130,000 to 140,000 elephants
in Botswana, then it’s highly unlikely that we are going to see an impact
on the breeding rate or population growth of elephants.”
Botswana has the world’s largest elephant herd at more than 130,000.
The country resumed trophy hunting activities in 2019 following a five-year
moratorium.
Botswana also has one of the world’s highest incidences of human-wildlife
conflict, with the animals moving closer to human settlements in search of
water and forage.