Zimbabwe plans to sell young elephants to compensate for funds lost from ban on trophy hunters

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By Peta Thornycroft, Johannesburg
25 Mar 2015

Zimbabwe has announced that it plans to sell more baby elephants to raise funds for its national park - three months after it shipped 36 of the animals to the UAE.
Zimbabwe hopes to sell about 50 tamed, juvenile elephants to foreign zoos to fund its national park, to compensate for the end of income from American hunters after the US banned the import of wildlife trophies.

Most American hunters, banned since last year from taking Zimbabwe trophies home with them, are now shooting elephants in South Africa. Safari operators and Zimbabwe's professional hunters say the ban has crippled their industry.

Saviour Kasukawere, Zimbabwe’s environment minister, said he hopes to export about 50 young elephants which will be tamed before they will are exported.

And he admitted that the sale of the elephants would be controversial. In December Pierce Brosnan, a long-standing campaigner for animal rights, criticised the "gruesome" announcement that 36 baby elephants had been taken from their mothers and were awaiting shipment "to the UAE and possibly China".

That deal was never confirmed, and Mr Kasukawere was unrepentant.

"We need to fund (national) parks because of sanctions and sport hunting bans," he said. "We are between a rock and a hard place."

Colin Gilles, a long time elephant counter and executive in the Wildlife and Environment Society, said that the sale of the elephants was "the best of two evils".

"Exporting sub adult elephants is better then culling them, as long as they are looked after," he said.

"A number of baby elephants died in China the last time we exported there. I suppose export is the best of two evils.

"I don’t like it, but I know national parks desperately needs funds, and if these funds are received by parks, then we have to live with this."

The buyers of the elephants have not been disclosed. Zimbabwe exported elephants to United Arab Emirates last year, but it is thought the 50 elephants for export this year could go to China.

China and UAE have both denied their countries would buy elephants from Zimbabwe.

Mr Kasukawere said he was advised that "sub adult elephants," aged between five and seven years-old, should be tamed after capture so they suffer less stress during their journey.

"These exports are generally for elephants over five years old and are weaned from their mothers. And yes, they are tamed."

He said that Zimbabwe's elephants will sell for about £40,000 each, including delivery costs.

Zimbabwe has too many elephants in the north west, according to most elephant counters, and Zimbabwe’s national parks authority. They say relocation of animals to the north and east of Zimbabwe, where populations have been halved by poachers, was not necessary.

"Elephant populations here grow at about five per cent per annum. So relocation doesn’t make sense," said David Cummings, one of Zimbabwe's most experienced wildlife ecologists.

He said there will be a swift recovery of the elephant population in parts of Zimbabwe where numbers have dropped in recent years.

"There were about 4,000 elephants in Zimbabwe 100 years ago. Now we have about 100,000."

Trevor Lane, a long time elephant and wildlife expert in Victoria Falls, agreed.

"Relocation is not necessary. There has been a drought this year and so many will die which will bring the numbers down," he said. He added he hoped revenue from selling elephants would be used to fight poachers from Zambia.

There are unconfirmed reports that a dozen elephants were killed last weekend in the wildlife area, known as Matusadona, in northern Zimbabwe, near the Zambian border.

The Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has asked for permission from National Parks to observe the capture and export of elephants.
 
Interesting...I don't see Pierce Brosnan stepping up to pay for the lost revenue.
His type are the biggest morons that ever walked the face of the earth.
 
Put up or shut up!
 
Relocation is not necessary. There has been a drought this year and so many will die which will bring the numbers down," he said. He added he hoped revenue from selling elephants would be used to fight poachers from Zambia.

This is a piece that the average person misses. Populations will self correct regardless. Utopia doesn't exist in the wild!
 
This whole deal just does not make sense to me.

How can it be better to sell off elephant to zoo's rather than to allow hunting?

Why are the anti hunting groups not donating the much needed funding to the Zim parks authority? Where are all the big shot public figures that are continually expressing their opinions on hunting? Where are they now that their financial help is needed?

Zim Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is encouraging a sale of ele to UAE and China? That seems rather hypocritical don't you think?

Death by drought seems the preferred option to those who are opposed to hunting... Really? That's their best option and solution to overpopulation? Seems rather daft to me. Surely the generation of revenue from the sale of trophy, non-trophy, pac, tuskless etc would be more beneficial to the environment, parks dept, local villagers, employed personnel from the hunting camps, etc?

What happens when the "Swift recovery of ele populations..." exceeds the carrying capacity of those areas? Culling? Live Export? Hunting? Poaching? Or will the anti's prefer the degradation of the environment to a point where the rest of the wildlife in those area's suffer and decline in numbers until those same areas are not capable of providing any reasonable amount of habitat for any reasonable amount of wildlife and eventually be devoid of any wildlife that could possibly bring in any income?

As Royal mentioned above, Utopia does not exist in the wild, but balance does... we have created specific areas for this wildlife to occupy unhindered by human development and thus we have to manage these areas. Hunting is an effective and profitable tool in management. Relocation of "wild" animals from an overpopulated area to an underpopulated area would benefit everyone and would be an ideal scenario, but at some point each managed area will reach its limits and whether the idea of population control is popular or not, it is inevitable. Be it hunting or culling or in the case with my fellow Zambians - poaching everyone else's animals!!

Guess i am preaching to the choir here, but hey... Rant Over!
 
The world has simply gone mad...Really. It just doesn't make sense to me anymore on a lot of issues.
 
If they really have 100000 elephants in the country with a growth rate of 5% as mentioned in the article then I can't see why US Wildlife and Fish banned hunting there. Seems like the elephant herd could stand 1% per year hunted and still grow!
 
This really is an educational opportunity. Great chance for SCI to point out the loss to the elephants. And a great time to publicly call on the anti hunting groups to step in and cover the cost that had been covered by hunters.
 
Ya, fat chance anti hunters will fork up a dime. But your right SCI as well as concerned Pro African hunting authorities should step in and get the ban reversed. this is prime time to jump all over the issue.
 
This whole deal just does not make sense to me.

How can it be better to sell off elephant to zoo's rather than to allow hunting?

Why are the anti hunting groups not donating the much needed funding to the Zim parks authority? Where are all the big shot public figures that are continually expressing their opinions on hunting? Where are they now that their financial help is needed?

Zim Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is encouraging a sale of ele to UAE and China? That seems rather hypocritical don't you think?

Death by drought seems the preferred option to those who are opposed to hunting... Really? That's their best option and solution to overpopulation? Seems rather daft to me. Surely the generation of revenue from the sale of trophy, non-trophy, pac, tuskless etc would be more beneficial to the environment, parks dept, local villagers, employed personnel from the hunting camps, etc?

What happens when the "Swift recovery of ele populations..." exceeds the carrying capacity of those areas? Culling? Live Export? Hunting? Poaching? Or will the anti's prefer the degradation of the environment to a point where the rest of the wildlife in those area's suffer and decline in numbers until those same areas are not capable of providing any reasonable amount of habitat for any reasonable amount of wildlife and eventually be devoid of any wildlife that could possibly bring in any income?

As Royal mentioned above, Utopia does not exist in the wild, but balance does... we have created specific areas for this wildlife to occupy unhindered by human development and thus we have to manage these areas. Hunting is an effective and profitable tool in management. Relocation of "wild" animals from an overpopulated area to an underpopulated area would benefit everyone and would be an ideal scenario, but at some point each managed area will reach its limits and whether the idea of population control is popular or not, it is inevitable. Be it hunting or culling or in the case with my fellow Zambians - poaching everyone else's animals!!

Guess i am preaching to the choir here, but hey... Rant Over!
Well said now try to preach that to the anti hunting community....
 
Well said now try to preach that to the anti hunting community....
Yeah... I've tried that a few times...
Usually need a few of these afterwards though:D Cool Drink::D Cool Drink:
 
Have one on me!
 
Let's also remember that these zoos probably ain't going to be the top notch facilities we have here in the U.S.
 

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