Mr Gill Staden on eTN describes the upcoming IUCN meeting in Botswana on the poaching emergency as a “missed opportunity” because the agenda does not include the issue of the alleged elephant over-population in the country.

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) last August called for the ‘necessity to balance the elephants role’. Are we hearing trigger happy people and the chance for some new fresh ivory to stock pile?

The official numbers mentioned in the article and that keep circulating are old and intentionally exaggerated, with the last official survey done 4 years ago, before the latest poaching crisis.

A lot of elephants in Botswana are refugees, migrated from Angola and Zimbabwe, escaping wars and poaching.
Better management and corridors will improve the situation, not rifles.

The full article here: http://www.eturbonews.com/39996/botswana-missed-opportunity-elephants

Photo credit: Nicole Cambre/Rex Features
Chobe national park