NEWS AND NEWS-ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe’s parks authority has granted 500 elephant hunting permits. They are being auctioned to help pay for the upkeep of national parks. They justify the granting of these permits because they claim that tourism revenue has been lost due to Covid-19 restrictions. They say they are struggling to keep their parks open.
The hunters normally come from America, Russia or Europe. They will be charged up to $51,000 per elephant. Stalking will take place in special concessions rather than safari parks. Zimbabwe has a growing population of elephants, The Times reports, standing currently at 85,000. It is the second largest in the world.
Comment: arguably, Zimbabwe is broke. The country is insolvent. Millions live in extreme poverty. This is a legacy of Mugabe’s reign as president. There is hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. In July 2019 inflation had increased to 175%. By March 2020 inflation was at 500% annually. And by July 2020 inflation has increased further to 737%.
The financial problems which have impacted the national park of Zimbabwe are primarily concerned with the mismanagement of the country and not with the Covid-19 pandemic. If they had been better organised they could have survived it without having to resort to killing elephants to protect elephants. There is a deep dichotomy in the concept of killing a species of animal in order to try and preserve it. It comes out of humankind’s inability sometimes to behave even remotely sensibly.
There are some more articles on elephants and their welfare:
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