Excuse this newbie question, but is the elephant population that bad in Botswana or did they close it due to political pressures?

You bet it's that bad! The Elephant population has skyrocketed to over 200,000 Elephants. It's only natural to close down hunting.

Sorry for the sarcasm, the situation is purely political.

Bryan - thanks, that's what I thought. The inmates are running the asylum these days. People are just clueless about how trophy hunting actually supports and helps game populations. I'm afraid it's a battle that we are never going to win.

Trophy hunting does very little to control elephant numbers .. mature males don't have offspring and they are in their final years anyway.. what is necessary is wholesale culling of entire family groups. This used to be done by professional culling teams in Zim and SA, but no longer. Sadly, the unsustainable elephant numbers have a ripple effect on other species.

I do believe that elephant hunting will continue on Govt lands in Botswana though. As well as hunting on private land.

(As an aside, dozens of leopards are shot by farmers each year in Botswana, but the quota for leopard on private game ranches is 12 animals, maybe less this year).

quote:

Originally posted by Markschu:
Excuse this newbie question, but is the elephant population that bad in Botswana or did they close it due to political pressures?

No man! ... they have identified a far more lucrative market in China than the common western trophy hunter!