Elephants, the largest existing land animals, are an endangered species that should be protected to prevent them from becoming extinct. They are also beautiful animals, but however beautiful and interesting elephants may be, they can also severely damage crops, destroy trees and even kill people.

This situation obviously brings about a conflict of interests between farming and nature conservation. The former president, Ian Khama, introduced a prohibition on elephant hunting in Botswana in 2014, but this year the ban was lifted. Lifting the ban appeals to villagers struggling to keep elephants out of their fields, and boosts President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s popularity ahead of general elections in October 2019.

President Masisi took over from President Khama in April last year, and a review began five months later, with reports suggesting growing political friction between President Masisi and his predecessor.

The negative side of elephants in Botswana:

• There are too many elephants in Botswana. Some experts claim the number of elephants in Botswana has almost tripled over the last 30 years, and that the population is now over 160 000.

• Elephants cause trouble for farmers’ crops and kill people. According to Botswana’s government, some 45 people have been killed by elephants in recent years, and there has been more than 8 000 incidents of animal and human conflict.

• The biological diversity is being put under strain. The elephants eat too many trees. In South Africa’s Kruger National Park (since 1960) more than 95% of that sanctuary’s top-canopy woodland trees have been destroyed by too many elephants.

More on the trees:

Ron Thomson, a qualified field ecologist who has been working in Africa’s national parks and wildlife management systems for 58 years, said in a letter quoting the words of Professor Brian Child:

• Only four of the 152 Acacia nigrescens (knob thorn trees) had survived (by 2007).

• Knob thorns, that had constituted 51% of the woodland species in 1965, were then down to 1,3%; and five species of slow-growing large riverine  tree species had been extirpated.

• In 1963, the majority of mukwa trees (Pterocarpus angolensis) and mugongo-nut trees, were ring-barked in an area just to the north of the Ngwezumba Bridge.

• In 1965, virtually all the Kirkia and Commiphora trees were pushed over in a large area on the face of the sand ridge west of Ihaha.

• The marula (Sclerocarya caffra) is greatly favoured by elephants. The whole tree is eaten by the elephants right down to the roots.

Poaching of elephants in Botswana increased:

Ron Thomson claim that the presence of hunters reduces poaching. According to an article of the Daily Maverick, Don Pinnock writes: “EWB found 156 elephants with their skulls split open and tusks removed, a huge increase over the previous survey. The actual number poached is undoubtedly

higher than just those seen. All were within five hot spots. This evidence suggests that ivory poaching on the scale of hundreds of elephants per year occurred in northern Botswana since 2017 or possibly earlier.

“Increases in carcass numbers are disturbing because it may indicate a future poaching increase. In Zimbabwe’s Sebungwe ecosystem, carcass numbers increased in the early 2000’s. This was followed by massive poaching and population collapse, with 2014’s elephant numbers down by 76% from the early 2000’s.”

Why elephants should not be hunted:

• They are an endangered species and can go extinct.

• Tourists pay to see elephants and this means that the killing of elephants will have a negative impact on tourism that contributes to Botswana’s economy. Farmers can put up electric fencing that don’t need any maintenance to limit their crop damage.

Elephants and their eating habits:

An elephant can weigh up to 7 tonnes and reaches heights of 3,3 m at the shoulder. They can live to an age of 70 years. They are considered to be a keystone species, due to their impact on their environment.

Elephants are enormous feeders. In a day a single elephant can consume up to 272 kg of grass, tender shoots and bark from trees. An adult elephant drinks up to 200 litres of water in a single session. A single elephant deposits up to 150 kg of dung every day, about one dollop every 15 minutes.

There is no easy solution to the problem. The rich diversity of African wildlife must be protected, but should it really be protected at the cost of human life? Legalising the hunting of elephants may be the only way to protect both elephants and humans.

The debate of elephant hunting is still going on in Botswana.