Gaborone, Botswana: Many conservationists on Thursday reacted with anger over Botswana’s decision to lift its blanket ban on hunting, describing it as a “horrifying” move, though others backed the idea.
The southern Africa nation announced on Wednesday it would overturn the hunting ban introduced in 2014 to reverse a decline in the population of elephants and other wildlife. Gaborone’s then-president Ian Khama, a keen environmentalist who stood down last year, introduced a prohibition on hunting in 2014.
Lawmakers from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) have been lobbying to overturn the ban, saying wild animal numbers have become unmanageable in some areas.
Much of the controversy has focused on elephant hunting, as landlocked Botswana has the largest elephant population in Africa, with more than 135,000 roaming freely in its unfenced parks and wide open spaces.
The London-based Humane Society International said “the horrifying decision... will send shock waves throughout the conservation world.” “Resuming... hunting is not only morally questionable and flies in the face of all international efforts to protect these giants, but it will also likely damage Botswana’s hugely valuable tourism industry.
“We implore Botswana’s government to think again.”
An official at the Botswana environment ministry confirmed on Thursday that the blanket ban was being lifted — not just on elephant hunting.
“It is all other animals, but we will specify in a press conference today which exact animals will be listed for hunting. Some animals are endangered so we can’t hunt them,” she said.
President Mokgweetsi Masisi took over from Khama last year and a public review began five months later, with reports suggesting growing political friction between Masisi and his predecessor. “This is a political move and not in the best interests of conservation in Botswana,” Jason Bell of the US-based International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said.
“Elephants are being used as political scapegoats, but at a huge cost.
“Hunting will do nothing to alleviate human-elephant conflict. One has to question what the real reasons are.”
But Botswanan groups welcomed the move, saying it would help local communities as trophy hunters pay large sums to shoot an animal.
“We are very happy that hunting will be back,” Amos Mabuku, chairman of the Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust, said. “The people were the ones who had been bearing the brunt of co-existing with these animals — we have lost brothers, we have lost our crops, we have lost our cattle due to this.”
— AFP
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