Despite huge outcry over Namibia’s proposed auction of 170 wild elephants, the Environment Ministry defends what has been called a “crime against nature”
Africa has lost 95 per cent of its elephants in the last 100 years - the survival of an iconic species is at stake. Namibia's plan to sell 170 elephants to the highest bidders has caused uproar among conservationists and wildlife experts – but the government has not backed off. Many critics suspect a hidden agenda behind the controversial scheme.
The Environment Ministry’s claim of having “too many elephants” and incidents of human-elephant conflict has been torn to pieces by wildlife experts such as Mark Hiley of National Park Rescue (NPR) who states that “the elephants the government wants to sell are actually in rapid decline”. The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) has been suspected of falsifying their elephant population statistics for years, and Namibia has also refused to participate in the Africa-wide Great Elephant Census in 2016.
Many of the elephants that are up for sale now belong to migrating herds that are moving between Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Botswana, argue conservationists. Instead of 23.000 elephants – as MEFT claims – experts estimate the number of elephants that are actually resident in Namibia to be around 5.600. “For thousands of years matriarch elephants have been leading their herds across multiple countries on huge migrations each year (…) The last of these great herds still carry out their epic journeys. These international elephants don’t ‘belong’ to anyone and Namibia’s proposal to capture and exploit them is rightly being seen as a crime against nature,” emphasized Mark Hiley.
Apparently Namibia has recently tried to gain permission to sell off their ivory stockpile and failed –the sale of elephants may be yet another plan to generate profit from already threatened wildlife. Conservationists fear that the auction might be a show to justify already planned culls of elephants, including lucrative hunting licenses and ivory already sold to hunters under the pretext of “problem-causing” elephants, as has been done before. Suspected secret deals might also include selling elephants to hunting farms or even foreign zoos.
The auction could also be an attempt to regain support of rural votes, since elephants stand in the way of commercial farming in areas like Kunene or Erongo, as Namibian investigative journalist John Grobler points out. Getting rid of elephants in certain areas would also clear the way for oil drilling or cattle farming groups. Among the elephants targeted are a group of very rare, desert adapted elephants and 23 bulls. The sale therefore would “greatly reduce genetic diversity, as there has been systematic over-hunting of especially the bulls among free-ranging elephant populations”, John Grobler warns in an interview with Al Jazeera.
Meantime, a coalition of 60 wildlife organizations, scientists and vets has spoken out against the auction and appealed to the authorities to cancel the plan. “These sales will do nothing to manage populations or mitigate conflict between elephants and people. Indeed, the disruption to elephant family groups and wider elephant society could make conflict with people much more likely”, said Dr. Mark Jones, head of policy at Born free Foundation.
Tearing elephants away from their family groups, greater herds and habitats would also mean immense individual suffering for the pachyderms, who are known to be among the most intelligent, sentient and social beings on our planet. We call on Namibia to stop misusing endangered species for short-term cash flow and protect its unique natural treasures and wildlife.
https://www.namibian.com.na/198037/archive-read/Germany-commits-N$72m-to-human-wildlife-conflict
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/african-elephants-sale-auction-b1794287.html
https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/namibia-to-sell-off-wild-elephants-in-controversial-auction/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcuEUfaS5Tg&feature=youtu.be