2021 Review

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In last year’s review,  it was hoped that in 2021 we could start to return to some kind of ‘normality’ after Coronavirus (Covid-19) impacted the globe – it would seem we are still a long way from any guarantee of ‘normality,’ as the fight against the virus endures. On a …

Elephant Hunts for Sale During a Pandemic

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By Ross Harvey, Conservation Action Trust, 13 April 2020 Botswana hides behind national “sovereignty” while selling off its natural heritage to foreign hunters and treating elephants as mere commodities. In February 2020 the government of Botswana auctioned off the right to hunt and kill 60 elephants — the first salvo toward …

Botswana government won’t let the truth get in the way of its trophy hunting narrative

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By Ross Harvey, Conservation Action Trust, 5 March 2020 Symptomatic of the Botswana government’s shaky relationship with reality is its letter to the United Kingdom’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). A full week after the deadline (25 February 2020) for public submissions on whether the UK should ban …

Botswana auctions off the last of its big tusker elephants

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By Ross Harvey, Conservation Action Trust, 14 February 2020 “Why not allow any willing bidder (such as the EMS Foundation) to pay for these licences if that raises revenue to conserve magnificent bull elephants instead of eliminating them?“ The Botswana government has again demonstrated to the world that it either does …

“Echoes of Cecil” in ‘unethical’ Botswana elephant hunt

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Banner Image – Outrage over ‘unethical’ Botswana elephant hunt, Don Pinnock, Daily Maverick, 11 December 2019 Botswana has recently (2018) reinstated elephant trophy hunting (after a 2014 moratorium). However, this is considered a mistake by leading experts that will not help reduce human-wildlife conflict. Let’s look at the reasons elephants have …

Syndicates move south; Botswana president calls it fake news

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Excellent background piece, with an explanation of the circumstances that have led to the current crisis in Botswana and the alarming prospect of proposals for a return to wildlife killing for income (and pretending there is any conservation imperative that justifies it)……… Article by Don Pinnock, Daily Maverick, 25 February …

Proposed return to ivory and rhino horn trading

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Banner image courtesy of Environmental Investigation Agency Petition: “Don’t let CITES delist Elephants and Rhinos as endangered animals!,” Care2Petitions GMFER Petition: “NAMIBIA AND SWAZILAND PROPOSALS TO CITES: TRADE IN RHINO HORN AND TROPHY HUNTING OF RHINO,” Change.Org The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES), will …

Elephants in Botswana

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Banner Image courtesy of oxandson Petition – “Don’t shoot Africa’s last elephants” Care2 Save Elephants This past week, we have had the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT, 2018) conference in London. The third party reports seen from attendees at IWT 2018 reinforces the message that for any given persecuted species, such as the …

Botswana Pursuing ‘Photographic Tourism’

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Banner Image – “Game viewing in the Selinda Reserve, Botswana is outstanding right now…” Image courtesy of Beverly and Dereck Joubert, Great Plains Conservation   There has been recent reports of Botswana being pressured by pro-hunting lobbies from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and lobbyists from the European Union seeking to persuade Botswana …

“Trophy Hunting is Not the Saviour for African Wildlife”

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It’s time for a ‘disruptive innovation,’ to wean range Governments’ dependency away from the Trophy Hunting income used to help ‘balance the books.’ The premise is should/could the ‘international community’ devise transparent (‘corruption’ proof) ways to subsidise key wildlife reserves to save iconic species? Hunting Income Evidence suggests that much of the hunting …