The elephants have been accused of exacerbating a drought
Credit: Mark Holdefehr
Namibia is set to sell 170 wild elephants in a controversial auction ending on Friday in response to disputed claims that the animals’ growing populations are worsening a drought and threatening people.
The elephants, including rare desert elephants and calves, have been rounded up in remote areas of the country’s north over the past few weeks.
Authorities said they would auction the animals to anyone in Namibia or abroad who could meet strict criteria including quarantine facilities and a game-proof fence certificate for the property where the elephants will be kept.
In an advert for the sale of the "high-value" animals published last month, the ministry of environment said: "Due to drought and increase in elephant numbers coupled with human-elephant conflict incidences, a need has been identified to reduce these populations."
But conservationists dispute the government’s claims of overpopulation as the world’s largest land mammal is at risk of extinction globally due to poaching, drought and the destruction of its natural habitats. A petition by wildlife enthusiasts gained over 106,000 signatures in a bid to cancel the auction.
"Although we’ve slaughtered 95 percent of all elephants in 100 years, the last of these great herds still carry out their epic journeys. These international elephants don’t belong to anyone and Namibia’s proposal to capture and exploit them is rightly being seen as a crime against nature,” said Mark Hiley, the operations director for Africa conservation group National Park Rescue.
Man vs Elephant
Namibian authorities say the elephant population in the country has grown from 7,500 animals in 1995 to over 24,000 today. But wildlife experts argue about two-thirds of those are part of trans-border herds which move between Namibia and its southern African neighbours Angola, Zambia and Botswana.
In 2015, Namibia was the only country to refuse to take part in the largest-ever census of elephant populations in Africa. Authorities have repeatedly failed to disclose the methodology behind their claims of a growing elephant population.
Conservation experts say Namibia’s elephant population could even be declining after a four-year drought across southern Africa has dried up pastures and shrunk grazing lands, decimating wildlife populations. Several outbreaks of the infectious bacterial disease anthrax are also suspected to be behind the deaths of dozens of elephants.
In Namibia alone, about 64,000 animals died from starvation in 2018, highlighting the threats that Africa’s wildlife face as climate change wreaks havoc on the continent.
Elephants are now wandering closer to human settlements in search of food and water, threatening many lives. Conflict between elephants and humans is increasing across Africa and Asia, with about 100 people killed by the beasts every year in India alone.
But the mammals are already extinct in 29 African countries due to poachers hunting them to take part in the lucrative global ivory trade, and to human activity expanding over their ancestral territory. Conservationists also say human-elephant conflict can be halted with simple, local solutions.
Elephants drinking in Namibia's Etosha National Park
Credit: Buena Vista Images
“Conservationists here in Namibia have proven solutions to the government’s claimed human-wildlife-conflict, including moving water points away from villages and electric fencing, but the government are ignoring them all," said Stephan Scholvin, a Namibian tour guide and conservationist.
"Despite their claims, it’s clear that their plans are about money not wildlife."
The government defended the auction. "Only some circles of people, mostly foreigners, object to this. Namibians who are living with these elephants do not object to this," Romeo Muyunda, a spokesman for the ministry of environment, forestry and tourism, said.
"They appreciate we are going to sell. It is a relief to them as on a daily basis these people are at risk from these elephants. They suffer losses from the elephants including loss of life,” he told The Telegraph.
Mr Muyunda added they will not be exported to zoos.
The sales are legal and becoming more common across southern Africa as the animals are not considered to be critically endangered.
Namibia has been pushing for years for more freedom to export animals and allow trophy hunting. In 2019, the country sold off up to 1,000 animals.
Last year, authorities threatened to pull out from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which regulates international trade in species under threat.
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