Will trophy hunting wipe out Africa’s Super Tuskers?
A short but powerful documentary was released on 20th January to highlight the impact of trophy hunting on the few remaining ‘super-tusker’ elephants across East Africa.
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‘Super-tuskers’ are bull elephants whose tusks grow to enormous sizes, typically weighing more than 100lbs each. These extraordinary animals are targeted by ivory poachers and trophy hunters alike because of their huge tusks, as a result of which their numbers have declined to the point where there may be fewer than 50 left across Africa.
The film, titled ‘Tuskers – Saving the Last Gentle Giants’, was directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Nick Chevallier and released by the African office of Humane Society International. It emphasises the biological, ecological, economic and cultural significance of these animals, as well as their intelligence and social importance.
In the past few months, Tanzanian authorities have issued hunting permits allowing five ‘super-tuskers’ of these animals to be killed by trophy hunters in the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area, which is part of the Greater Amboseli ecosystem straddling northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. The elephant population in this ecosystem is thought to be the best studied population across Africa.
Before the recent killings, there had been an informal agreement between Kenya (where trophy hunting is banned) and Tanzania (where it is permitted) that nobody would be allowed to target these elephants. Tanzania is now reneging on that agreement.
Born Free’s Executive President Will Travers OBE, who took part in the documentary, said: “These are some of the most iconic elephants on the planet. People travel half-way around the world to come to Amboseli, to stand looking at Mount Kilimanjaro with elephants walking in front of them. These are irreplaceable animals.”
Alongside our partners at HSI/Africa and beyond, Born Free is calling for an immediate end to the killing of these elephants, and for all elephants across Africa to be protected from the travesty of trophy hunting.
You can view the film below and at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEN0XQW3PR0
For more information on the subject, you can read the thoughts of Born Free’s long-time friend and Senior Wildlife Consultant Ian Redmond OBE: