Stop the elephant cull
Born Free joins 80 other animal protection organisations to call on Southern African governments to abandon wildlife culls, which could include hundreds of elephants.
Born Free has signed a joint letter from 81 animal protection organisations from around the world, supporting calls from conservation experts and local groups in Africa for Southern African countries to scrap plans to cull elephants and other wild animals.
Parts of Southern Africa are experiencing one of the most severe droughts in years, which has destroyed crops and is threatening the lives of people, wildlife and domesticated animals. In response, the Namibian authorities announced plans in late August to cull more than 700 wild animals, including elephants in National Parks (a number which was subsequently increased), ostensibly to provide meat for people and reduce conflict over scarce resources. The authorities in Zimbabwe followed suit, announcing plans to cull at least 200 elephants.
However, the animal protection organisations argue that culling wild animals is not an effective way of alleviating the impacts of drought on people. Rather, the proposed culls will further threaten fragile wildlife populations while increasing the potential for conflict between people and wildlife. In addition, the culls could stimulate the poaching and theft of ivory and other wildlife products for illegal trade.
Instead, the organisations are calling on the authorities in Southern Africa to adopt and implement existing well-proven, sustainable and humane measures to tackle the current challenges facing both people and wildlife.