Zimbabwe mulls elephant cull Wed May 23, 8:39 AM ET



HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe is considering culling a ballooning elephant population that it is struggling to control, an official said Wednesday.


"The elephant population is increasing at the rate of five to seven percent annually," Edward Mbewe, spokesman for the parks and wildlife management authority, told AFP.

"We have about three options to consider which include culling, but the international world will not accept this."

The decision came after Mali and Kenya proposed to lobby for a complete ban on the ivory trade for 20 years at the upcoming Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) summit.

The move has won the backing of six other African countries.

"We will be in a dilemma if that proposal by Kenya and Mali goes through," Mbewe said.

Besides culling Zimbabwe's wildlife, authorities are also considering contraception and translocation to control the rising elephant population.

But Mbewe said "translocation is very expensive and will not solve anything as we will transfer problems to another area."

The southern African country has an elephant population of more than 100,000 but has the capacity for only 45,000.

Mbewe said if the ivory trade ban is endorsed it will lead to conflict for territory between humans and elephants as the beasts grow in numbers.

Elephants have been protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 1989, but in 1997 rules were relaxed allowing Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to sell a portion of their ivory stocks under regulated trade.

I saw that one earlier -- it is a nice counterpoint to the "Ban Ivory Trade" story.

Of course the countries on that "Ban" list can just take a truck down to Zimbabwe and pick up a few thousand elephants each...

Why not cull hunts at a reduced rate?

quote:

Originally posted by invader66:
Why not cull hunts at a reduced rate?

Non-trophy, non-export hunts are already available.