United Kingdom animal activists have called on the Botswana government to reverse its decision to auction more than 60 elephants, APA learnt here Wednesday.
In a letter to Botswana Wildlife and National Parks director Cyril Taolo, head of Born-Free Foundation Mark Jones said there are many sustainable and far more effective methods than trophy hunting for protecting and recovering wildlife populations, securing viable habitat and benefiting local communities.
These include land-use reforms, conservation-compatible agriculture, and co-existence approaches such as through the careful development of non-destructive, low impact wildlife tourism aimed at both international and domestic market.
“Notwithstanding our desire to see an end to all trophy hunting in Botswana, the exclusion of individuals or organisations from bidding process who could have adopted a non-lethal approach to elephant management in the hunting blocks, prevented the possibility of developing humane and sustainable wildlife management and local community development strategies,” Jones said.
Botswana, home to the world’s largest elephant population, held its first major auction for trophy hunting quotas on 7 February since scrapping a hunting ban last year.
KO/jn/APA