Botswana’s leader lashes out at critics of elephant culls
Jane Flanagan, Cape Town
February 26 2019, 5:00pm,
The Times
The president of Botswana has urged the West to take some of its elephants so “they would know what the animals are capable of”.
In a testy response to international criticism of a possible cull, President Masisi lashed out at negative reports he was considering the measure along with trophy hunting to manage the country’s elephant population, with the meat being canned for pet food.
Addressing a rally of supporters, Mr Masisi, 57, said: “Where do they [the West] get the guts to tell us how we should take care of our wildlife? I was in England . . . where I told them their problem was they are talking elephant issues as if there are no people. I said to them that we will give you 200 elephants and just let them roam all over as you want them to in Botswana.”
The landlocked country, the size of France but with a human population of only 2.9 million, has 30 per cent of Africa’s elephants and has long been celebrated as an animal sanctuary with a low poaching rate compared with its neighbours.
However, a recent census of Botswana’s wildlife revealed a surge in incidents of elephant poaching and a possible decline in overall numbers. Mr Masisi has rejected the findings of the survey team from the charity Elephants Without Borders (EWB) as “lies”.
Debates about how to manage animal populations in Africa are constantly and intensely debated, particularly around trophy hunting which its proponents argue provides financial windfalls to communities living in wildlife-rich areas.
Yet, the proximity of humans and wildlife creates problems, with rising numbers of incidents of elephants, along with big cats, terrorising rural families and destroying property.
The 22 countries in the world with the fastest birth rates are all in Africa and 20 of them are states where elephants roam. Uganda’s population, estimated at 43 million, is projected to be 105 million by 2050, according to the UN. Conservationists warn the magnitude of the problem will soon dwarf the ivory poaching crisis.
In Botswana, the ruling Botswana Democratic Party is likely to win support in this election year if it seen to be taking the problem seriously.
Mr Masisi, who took over from Ian Khama as party leader and president last March, added: “We can even add lions, buffalos, leopards and cheetahs. They should know we also have people who are farmers and want to keep their livestock and crops.”
In addition to lambasting his foreign, and mostly white critics, Mr Masisi’s administration has also withdrawn the wildlife research permit of EWB, headed by Mike Chase.
“Yes we did receive a letter from the government informing us that the research permit has not been renewed for 2019. I cannot tell you anything further than that the letter cited ‘improper reporting’ as the reason for non-renewal,” Mr Chase said.
His organisation’s conservation ecology research station in the Okavango Delta is funded by, among others, the estate of Paul Allen, the late billionaire and founder of Microsoft.
The former president, Mr Khama, whose controversial “shoot to kill” approach to poachers divided opinion, described his successor’s move against EWB as “spiteful”, and his attack on negative media coverage demonstrated “an allergy and intolerance of criticism”
He told The Times: “It is so disappointing that this government would take an attitude that Mike Chase is an enemy not a messenger. He is a researcher trying to bring an issue to our attention and he is being punished for it.
“No government likes criticism or negative publicity, but it is part of life. This is supposed to be a democracy.”
Megan Carr VP Social Media GMFER
PLEASE KEEP SHARING OUR PETITION