Botswana to establish elephant meat canning
Among the suite of recommendations emerging from the Cabinet Sub Committee on Hunting Ban Social Dialogue, is that there be introduced regular but limited elephant culling. Additionally the country will also establish elephant meat canning, including production of pet food and processing into other by-products. Speaking to the media last Friday after he had handed the sub-committee’s report to President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi – Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Frans Van Der Westhuizen, explained that elephant culling is in fact not an alien concept. He said that Botswana is allowed a quota of elephant culling- although he did not say how much - under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) but that this was stopped as a result of the ban on wildlife hunting that was imposed in 2014 by the administration of former president, Lt. Gen Ian Khama. CITES is a global agreement between governments that regulates and monitors international trade in species under threat and acts as a cornerstone of international conservation. Botswana is home to many of the world’s largest living animals such as elephants; hippopotami, rhinos, including the cat family – lions, cheetahs and leopards. Minister Westhuizen’s sub-committee has also recommended that the ban on hunting, which was across all wildlife species, be lifted. However, no timeframe was given as to when the ban will be lifted because the report still has to be scrutinised by the president, his cabinet, Parliament and shared with members of Ntlo Ya Dikgosi. Other recommendations include developing a legal framework that will create an enabling environment for growth of safari hunting industry. Minister Westhuizen explained that once lifted, the ban will be implemented through wildlife laws. He indicated that a new framework would have to be involved that caters for the needs of communities in areas demarcated as communal hunting areas and wildlife management areas. It is also proposed that the management of Botswana elephant population be carried out within its historic ranges as well as engage the department of wildlife and national parks to undertake an effective community outreach programme within the elephant range for human-elephant conflict mitigation. Such mitigation could include construction of strategically placed human wildlife conflict fences in key hotspot areas; compensation for damage and destruction caused by wildlife; as well as the review of ex gratia amounts and the list of species that attract compensation. It is further proposed that all wildlife migratory routes that are not beneficial to the country’s conservation efforts be closed in order to avoid losing our wildlife to other countries through migration. The sub-committee recommends that the Kgalagadi southwesterly antelope migratory route into South Africa should be closed by demarcating game ranches between the communal areas and Kgalagadi Wildlife Management Areas. President Dr. Masisi expressed gratitude to the sub-committee and promised to read the report.