Namibia is auctioning 170 wild elephants amid drought
Namibia has put 170 "high value" wild elephants on the market because of drought and a rise in elephant numbers, the southern African country's environmental ministry announced on Wednesday. An advertisement carried by state-possessed daily store New Era said an increase in incidents of human-elephant conflict motivated the sales. Namibia's elephants happen to be among numerous species facing threat of extinction because of poaching, unlawful wildlife trade and ecological factors.
The Ministry of Environment Forestry and Tourism said it could auction the elephants to anyone in Namibia or abroad who could meet certain strict criteria, which include quarantine facilities and a game-proof fence certificate for the house where in fact the elephants will be kept. Foreign buyers must provide evidence that conservation authorities within their countries will permit them to export elephants with their countries.
Like several other African nations, Namibia is trying to strike a balance between guarding high-value species like elephants and rhinos, while managing the danger they pose if they encroach on areas of human habitation. Namibia's conservation travel has enjoyed overseas support -- its elephant inhabitants has jumped from about 7,500 in 1995 to 24,000 in 2019, according to government figures But last year, Namibia said it was taking into consideration withdrawing from the rules that govern the global trade in endangered species. This was after countries voted throughout a CITES assembly to reject proposals to relax restrictions on hunting and exporting its light rhinos.
The country really wants to allow more trophy hunting and the export of live animals, arguing that the funds it would raise would make it to protect the species. In October, it put 70 feminine and 30 man buffaloes from Waterberg Plateau Park in central Namibia up for sale in a bid to ease pressure on grazing land. The arid southern African country also auctioned 1,000 animals from nationwide parks, including 500 buffaloes, in 2019 as it confronted its worst drought in a hundred years.
