Bharat Ane
Nenu starring Mahesh Babu was released
in 2018 directed by Koratala Siva. The film is about Bharat, a student
unexpectedly becoming the leader of Andhra Pradesh and his attempts to reform
politics. No comparison between a Cine
portrayal – elsewhere in Botswana, Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi became s the
fifth President of Botswana, in 2018. He
has also served as Minister of Education since 2014, and previously he was
Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration – has now sought to
redefine the lives of elephants !!
Botswana—widely
considered a safe haven for elephants in Africa—appears to be suffering from
its own surge in poaching, according to aerial survey work published today in
the journal Current Biology. “We have a significant poaching problem—let’s deal
with it,” says Mike Chase, who, as the director of the Botswana-based nonprofit
Elephants Without Borders, led the latest aerial survey study as well as
earlier elephant counts, including the 18-country Great Elephant Census. “We
were warned by conservationists in other countries that the poachers would
eventually come down to Botswana, and now they’re here,” he says.
Botswana
is estimated to be home to more than 130,000 savanna elephants—about a third of
Africa’s remaining population. Until recently, the southern African country had
largely escaped the scourge of elephant killings for ivory, still in high
demand in China and elsewhere. The African Wildlife Foundation, an
international conservation nonprofit, estimates that as many as 35,000
elephants are killed each year in Africa. Zambia’s Sioma Ngwezi National Park,
for example, had about 900 elephants in 2004 but only an estimated 48 just over
a decade later—losses likely driven by ivory poaching. And in the Ruaha-Rungwa
region of south-central Tanzania, the elephant population is estimated to have
fallen from more than 34,000 in 2009 to 8,000 by 2014.
The
Botswana count in Current Biology appears on the heels of last month’s
announcement by the government that it will
lift its five-year-old hunting ban on all species—a controversial move that
will allow renewed trophy hunts of elephants and other animals. Such hunts, the government said, are needed because dangerous
encounters between people and elephants have been increasing and may threaten
livelihoods, among other reasons. It's one
of the world's last sanctuaries for African elephants. But now, Botswana says,
its population of the animals will be fair game for hunters. The southern African nation, which is home to 130,000 elephants
-- more than anywhere else on the continent -- imposed the ban in 2014 to help
declining numbers recover from poaching and shrinking habitats.
Recently,
Botswana's government scrapped the ban, shrugging off criticism from some
environmental groups and conservationists. It cited increasing conflict between
humans and elephants, as well as the need to monetize conservation efforts. "Conservation
is in our DNA. We have never been reckless. Our responsibility towards
conservation has not changed, but our responsibility to the people has not
changed as well," said Kitso Mokaila, minister of environment, wildlife
and tourism in a press conference in the capital, Gaborone. He maintained the
ban had always been temporary. Earlier this year a cabinet group in Botswana
recommended elephant culling and a factory to can elephant meat. The proposals
drew a major backlash.
"If
it is all about community and wildlife conflict, there are dozens and dozens of
options that can be used before one hauls out the guns," a Conservationist
told CNN. "Many people would be
willing to put up a lot of money and ideas to help communities before we resort
to the killing of animals." The African elephant is classified as
vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red
List.
Hunting
for big game, including elephants, is common practice in the neighboring
countries of southern Africa. The governments of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and
South Africa assert that well-managed hunting can help preserve the herds by
channeling profits into conservation, and protect ecosystems from the
destructive power of large elephant populations. Hunting, what ? ~ mere killing
by rich people armed with sophisticated machinery, shooting and killing animals
that have no protection and what is great about this mindless act ??
There
is an ongoing debate about the actual worth of hunting licenses compared to
tourism dollars. The Botswanan government said it would grant up to 400
licenses per year for shooting elephants. Overall, tourism generates far more
jobs and revenue than hunting, according to photographic safari operators and
former hunters. Many scientists and conservationists also feel that protecting
elephants is a moral imperative. "It's a morally repugnant issue, the
equivalent of shooting dogs, cats, whales or great apes," said Save the
Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton. Multiple studies show that elephants
are highly intelligent, sentient creatures that are aware of what happens in
their environment, and express fear and stress when other members of their
species are killed. "Hunting is an outdated practice which has no place in
the modern world," Kenyan wildlife conservationist Paula Kahumbu told CNN.
.. .. .. and sadly, the so called hunters, prefer the biggest bulls, with the largest
tusks. That
can skew sex distribution and affect elephant ecology, knocking out the
strongest and most knowledgeable of the species out of the gene pool.
Of
course, it is far less evil that Poaching,
that potentially could wipe out populations. And in some parts of the
continent, it already has. The main difference between Poaching & Hunting
is – first is considered illegal activity by people trying to make money by
killing the latter is legal killing by rich people willing to spend money for
the same activity – for the hapless animal it makes no difference !
Right
now, the sale of ivory is banned by an international agreement on trade in
endangered species.But Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with the
support of South Africa, are making a fresh appeal to lift restrictions on the
sale of raw ivory. Those countries account for more than half of the world's
elephants and have millions of dollars' worth of stockpiles that they say could
be sold and plowed back into conservation. Several weeks ago, as they discussed
lobbying against the ivory ban at a summit in Botswana, the host government
presented the visiting leaders with elephant feet stools. It was an odd gift
for a country trying to push its conservation credentials. All these point to a
shift under President Mokgweetsi Masisi,
who has taken a markedly different stance on conservation and hunting than his
predecessor.
As it
happens the move to lift the ban is tried to be projected by PR pundits as if a
move lauded by locals claiming wild elephants are ruining their livelihoods. In a statement detailing the reversal,
Botswana’s Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism
cited the increasing prevalence of human-elephant conflict, the Department of
Wildlife and National Parks’ inability to respond to animal control reports in
a timely fashion, and the toll on communities ill-equipped to handle the
unimpeded roaming of these roughly 12,000-pound creatures. The ministry further
said that reinstatement will be performed “in an orderly and ethical manner.” The exact nature of this “ethical”
implementation remains unclear, as do the long-term ramifications of the
decision for both Botswana’s human and pachyderm residents.
To
protect the pachyderms from trophy hunters and ivory poachers, former President
Ian Khama imposed the hunting ban in 2014. An ardent conservationist, he also
introduced a highly controversial “shoot to kill” policy for stopping poachers,
which included arming anti-poaching units with military-grade weapons and
approved shooting known poachers on sight. Both policies have been eliminated
under the current administration. The elephant hunting ban helped Botswana
emerge as a “conservation success story.” Soon after taking office, Khama’s
successor President Mokgweetsi Masisi tasked a committee with re-evaluating the
ban. A committee of local authorities, affected communities, non-profits,
tourism organizations, conservationists and other so-called “stakeholders” was
created to assess the ban’s status. In February, the committee released its
recommendations, which included lifting the ban, implementing “regular but
limited elephant culling,” and, most controversially, establishing the practice
of canning elephant meat for pet food—a suggestion that has since been
abandoned. Rather than advocating for outright culling, Masisi’s government now
prefers the term selective “cropping.”
As
elephant expert said , “There’s no such thing as ‘ethical hunting.’ It’s an
oxymoron.” Africa loses some 30,000 elephants to ivory poaching every year, but
Botswana, according to National Geographic’s Bale, has so far “largely escaped”
the crisis. An elephant is killed on the African continent once every 15
minutes, Botswana was the last refuge
for these elephants, and suddenly that refuge is going to start hunting them. Many
environmentalists fear that the lifted ban is simply a precursor to renewed
efforts aimed at legalizing the ivory trade. In purely economic terms,
suspending the ban carries the risk of hurting Botswana’s tourism industry,
which is the country’s second highest source of foreign income after diamond
mining. Currently, Botswana markets itself as what BBC News deems a “luxury
safari destination,” attracting wealthy visitors eager to interact with
elephants and other exotic animals in their native habitat. According to the
World Wildlife Foundation, agriculture and land development have driven African
elephants into an increasingly smaller area over the past several decades.
So like
the story of African story of ‘deer getting up every day knowing that it has to
run faster than the fastest of chasing cheetah’ – elephants in Botswana will
have to get up thinking of hiding themselves from the modern gadgets of
licensed game hunters ! Sad !! .. ..
every now and then a Western journalist would raise a hue of elephants being
chained, confined and not properly treated in India, would they not read, know –
travel to these places, cry for saving the same hapless mammoth elephant !
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
17th
Aug 2019.
Pic
of impressive elephant : credit facebook page of Botswana President Masisi
