Botswana is home to the largest elephant population in the world, and has held a reputation as one of the global leaders in conservation. Until recently, a government-funded anti-poaching unit and a shoot-to-kill policy against poachers had provided wildlife in the country with a safe haven, despite escalating poaching throughout the rest of Southern Africa.

Without explanation, Botswana disarmed its anti-poaching unit in May 2018, one month after President Mokgweetsi Masisi took office.

On September 3rd 2018, news spread that the carcasses of almost 90 elephants, with their faces mutilated and tusks removed, had been found near a Botswana protected sanctuary. Killings on this scale were unheard of in the region previously.

Botswana holds 37 percent of Africa's endangered elephant population. Now that these animals have been left without effective protection, conservationists predict poachers will begin a killing frenzy. If current global poaching rates continue, it is estimated that elephants will be extinct by the end of the next decade.

Demand that President Masisi fully fund and return weapons and anti-poaching equipment to the government's anti-poaching unit immediately, so that this place of relative safety for elephants does not become their killing field.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-45396394