Botswana: the opening of the elephant hunt is not unanimous

Elephants drinking in Chobe National Park, Botswana, March 3, 2013. AP - Charmaine Noronha

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2 min

If the Covid-19 pandemic had drawn an end to the 2020 elephant hunting season, the 2021 edition opened on Tuesday April 6 in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana.

The trophy is nearly 300 elephants that hunters from Europe and the United States will try to kill.

This is the first full hunting season in Botswana, a country which is home to 130,000 pachyderms - the largest contingent in the world - since the lifting of a ban in 2019. But this resumption is not unanimous.

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The Botswana authorities have issued around 100 hunting licenses for the year 2021, and 187 additional licenses, from last year's white season.

Since the new season opened on Tuesday, April 7, customers from as far away as the United States have started to reappear.

A return favored by the relaxation of travel restrictions and welcomed by hunting professionals, who see it as a way for local communities to collect income again.

Botswana had in fact banned commercial hunting in 2014. New President

Mokgweetsi Masisi

 today promises that hunting will resume " 

in an orderly and ethical manner

 ".

But some wildlife advocates would like more reassurance on how hunting quotas are set before handing out hunting licenses.

Although controversial, hunting is seen by many experts as an effective way to protect the local population, who complain that elephants are destroying their crops.

Rather than hunting, other defenders believe that a better management tool is to encourage the creation of travel corridors, especially to neighboring countries such as Angola, Zambia and Namibia.

► Read also: Botswana allows elephant hunting

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  • Botswana

  • Animal health

  • Wildlife

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