Elephant Poaching, Census and Management in Botswana

[Lisbeth]

In Botswana, elephant hunting divides opinion

2019-08-07 05:50

In the middle of June, armed with a pellet gun, Ngakaemang Ray Chombo found an elephant rustling about his farm in Tutume, a village on Botswana's eastern borderland, 50km from Zimbabwe.

Witnesses say the 78-year-old former wildlife ranger fired several shots to scare the animal away, but the wounded elephant charged and mauled Chombo to death.

"The elephant was shot several times, but it ran away and came back. When he shot the last bullet, the elephant came, we could no longer do anything to protect ourselves," said Julius Chiabeswahu, Chombo's friend who was with him that night, and now fears that an elephant will invade his field.

"Elephants are not good, they ruin people's fields and pastures. It destroyed the irrigation system which Chombo had just put in and no matter how we tried to chase it, it would keep coming back. What if it comes to my field, how will I defend myself? The government has to do its best to help us with this problem, it's a terrible situation."

Botswana haslifted a ban on elephant hunting, which was imposed in 2014, citing the challenges faced by small-scale farmers by a growing elephant population.

Home to Africa's largest herd of 130 000, Botswana is famed as the continent's last safe haven for the world's largest mammals, but that could change as President Mokgweetsi Masisi's administration rolls out its controversial policy, aimed at reducing human-wildlife conflict.

Escalation in human-elephant conflict

The idea is that allowing hunting will reduce risk to humans, essentially by reducing the population of elephants.

But Cyril Taolo, the deputy director of the department of national parks and wildlife, explained that population control wouldn't work.

He said as elephants move into areas where people are not accustomed to dealing with them, they pose great danger.

"This is one of the reasons why we have seen an escalation in human-elephant conflict.

"We've had more than 45 mortalities over the past 10 years from human-wildlife related mortalities, but we have seen a tremendous escalation in human-wildlife conflict to more than 8 000 cases over the last year."

In the midst of a long-running drought, farmers are selling or slaughtering cows to preserve limited water reserves, reducing the total cattle population from 2.5 million in 2011 to 1.7 million in 2015.

But thirsty wildlife herds continue to wander into areas inhabited by people.

At Chombo's burial in Rakops, his rural home, a small herd of elephants walk along thorny grassland between cattle heading towards a river as his coffin lay over the grave-pit.

More human-elephant interactions

Villagers say in the dry season, elephants often trudge through this rural hamlet in search of water.

In recent years, increasing competition for resources between livestock and wildlife has led to more human-elephant interactions across Botswana.

Elephants roams about in in Botswana's Okavango Delta [Tendai Marima/Al Jazeera]

In Bobirwa, in Semolale district near the eastern resort town of Maun, the Sebudubudu family is in mourning.

Last month, Balisi Sebudubudu, 38, was sent to fetch a cow for slaughter during his younger brother's funeral, but tragedy struck en route when Sebudubudu was mauled by an elephant.

"We failed to dignify the burial of my nephew … because we were busy preparing for the burial of his younger brother, when all of a sudden this thing happened and he was just buried like a cat," said David Sebudubudu, Balisi's uncle. "If I had money I'd buy four, five or eight rifles and demolish them, you can't compare the life of a human being with that of an elephant."

The government compensated the family with 85 000 Pula ($8 042). Sebudubudu believes hunting might be a deterrent to prevent more fatal attacks.

When President Masisi tweeted his condolences to the Sebudubudus, he faced a backlash from Western celebrities and animal lovers who condemned lifting the hunting ban.

Masisi dismissed the backlash as privileged criticism which ignores the plight of Botswana's villagers.

Conservation interventions

"They feel that they are pets, yes, they are also our pets, but they are pets that we like to admire from afar. The problem is they want to admire the pets when they are assured of their own protection, when they are here for a short while and then admire them from afar via television," he said in an interview.

Because the hunting ban has been suspended, Botswana, which depends heavily on wildlife-based tourism, is faced with the threat of a tourism boycott.

Edwin Tambara, a manager at the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), backs a broad, sustainable approach to ensure communities can live in a shared habitat with wildlife.

"Conservation interventions are broadly experimental and outcomes unpredictable. It is against this background that any response, in particular, trophy hunting, has to be applied with the most considerable caution and systems in place for monitoring and transparency to allow for learning and adaptation," he told Al Jazeera by email.

The case of the Sebudubudus, who lost two family members to elephant attacks, was highlighted by the president.

Renown conservationist Mike Chase, director of Elephants Without Borders (EWB), is sympathetic to the danger elephants pose, but blamed other factors including how Botswana secures animal enclosures.

"Vet fences are effective barriers to elephant movements, but many of them have not been maintained and long stretches are broken giving elephants access to new areas," he said.

Increased poaching

"In all likelihood, the reintroduction of trophy hunting will have no impact on any of these factors."

Last year, Chase stirred controversy when EWB announced the discovery of 87 elephant carcasses in northern Botswana.

The NGO alleged they had been poached, but the government refuted the claim saying that according to a survey by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, only 53 had died and most due to natural causes.

Chase stands by his allegation and, along with other researchers, is concerned about increased poaching in recent years, which has gone up by nearly 600 percent.

For his part, President Masisi urges people to "understand the local context". Ontebaganye Ngoma, a 10-year-old boy, narrowly survived an elephant attack in Gumare, a rural village near the Okavango Delta, a scenic wetland home to a variety of endangered species.

One afternoon, Ngoma and his grandmother were looking for firewood. An elephant scooped him up and squeezed the boy with its trunk. His grandmother, Shimwe, screamed and waved her brightly coloured leteise, a traditional cloth, at the grey giant.

'I hope they won't come near us'

Distracted by the bright colours and a couple of noisy neighbourhood dogs, the elephant threw Ngoma down and lunged for his grandmother's leteise.

The boy's leg was broken and he was bruised.

"I was so scared that day, but I thank God that my grandson was saved. I don't know if we will be safe. I've lived in Gumare for a long time, but we wouldn't normally see elephants in the village, people would be attacked near the river, but now they are coming to the people, it's scary," Shimwe told Al Jazeera.

As Botswana heads into hotter, even drier months of the El Nino-induced drought, the country's wildlife could trudge through more habitats in search for water, increasing the risk of conflict.

"I hope they won't come near us again," said Shimwe

[Lisbeth]

Scientists write letter to Botswana president about elephants

Posted on 13 August, 2019 by News Desk in Conservation, News, Opinion Editorial, Wildlife and the Opinion Editorial post series



The following letter (see below) has been sent to Dr. Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, President of Botswana, with regard to elephant management in Botswana.

The letter offers evidence of options for managing elephants and reducing conflict between them and the people who share their range, and that conflict is not unavoidable and unresolvable.

“Botswana has a unique opportunity to extend existing efforts for coexistence with elephants,” state the authors, “while simultaneously promoting ecosystem conservation and sustainable rural livelihoods…for the benefit of all.”

The letter is signed by a number of scientists and campaigners.

Read the letter below:

Your Excellency, President Dr. Masisi

We are writing in response to ongoing debate over elephant management in Botswana. In particular, we wish to discuss the diverging opinions over options for managing elephants and reducing conflict between them and the people who share their range. We are in full agreement with your Government that equitable solutions must be found so that rural livelihoods are maintained and improved while elephant populations and their ecosystems are conserved.

However, we are concerned that much of the rhetoric is giving the impression that conflict is both unavoidable and unresolvable. Viewing conflict as the only inevitable outcome when elephants and people share land encourages a confrontational approach that is likely to exacerbate problems for both. We recognise how difficult it must be to cope with political pressure surrounding human-elephant conflict. At the same time, we believe that science offers important insights that can help managers improve human livelihoods through coexistence with elephants.

In several instances, we have seen the media portray Botswana as having “too many elephants”. The current population of some 130,000 elephants is said to be growing, or even “exploding”, although evidence from surveys shows that numbers have not increased significantly since at least 2006 and it is likely that densities (numbers per unit area) have remained fairly steady since the late 1990s, at a level dictated by their food and water supplies. A hypothetical figure of 54,000 (equivalent to 0.33/km2) has been pronounced as the correct number for Botswana’s ecological “carrying capacity”, with elephants said to be out of balance with plant communities. Such speculative statements confuse and inflame the public, damaging elephant, ecosystem and human interests.

Botswana’s long experience of drought or flood years, and the great changes in the water levels in the Okavango Delta, Lake Ngami and the Boteti River, makes clear the degree to which semi-arid savanna ecosystems vary over time, defying the concept of a stable balance. Ecological changes occur both on a broad geographic scale covering whole landscapes, and over time scales that span decades.
Elephants were almost exterminated across much of Africa by hunters in the obsession for ivory that occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries, and rinderpest killed many species of antelopes in the late 1800s. With few animals to disturb the adult trees or their seedlings, woodlands spread across wide areas. When the elephants and impalas returned again later in the 20th century, the woodlands near water sources were cut back and restored to their previous condition.

Moving forward, we believe that allowing elephants to naturally and safely disperse within northern Botswana and across the KAZA Transfrontier Conservation Area provides the best management solution to the current situation. Wildlife corridors that facilitate elephant movements, through areas that are being settled by people, already exist. Elephants know where these corridors are and will readily use them as long as they remain open and protected. Encouraging elephant movements would reduce pressure on any one area rather than concentrating their activities, and would protect human interests from elephant impacts. It also allows ecosystems to benefit from the ecological and economic good that elephants provide.

Effective maintenance of corridors is already underway in Ngamiland, through zoning by the Tawana Land Board, combined deterrence (with chillies, beehives and electric fences) to protect crops, and improvements in rural livelihoods in partnerships with farmers.

Botswana has a unique opportunity to extend existing efforts for coexistence with elephants, while simultaneously promoting ecosystem conservation and sustainable rural livelihoods across KAZA for the benefit of all. We hope your country will seize this opportunity to build on the evidence-based approach and demonstrate the benefits of sharing landscapes between people and wildlife across Africa.

Sincerely,
(in alphabetical order)

Victoria Boult, Research Scientist, University of Reading
Vicki Fishlock, Resident Scientist, Amboseli Trust for Elephants
Phyllis Lee, Emeritus Professor, University of Stirling
WK Lindsay, Collaborating Researcher, Amboseli Trust for Elephants (corresponding author)
Cynthia Moss, Director, Amboseli Trust for Elephants
Joyce Poole, Director, Elephant Voices
Ian Redmond, Elephant biologist and Ambassador to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)
Rudi van Aarde, Emeritus Professor of Zoology and Chair: Conservation Ecology Research Unit, University of Pretoria

[Klipspringer]

Some perspective on hunting in Botswana

[Klipspringer]

Interesting read here

https://africageographic.com/stories/th ... ncing-act/

[Lisbeth]

If costs and income were not so important, it would be so much easier to resolve the problems.

1. Prohibit trophy hunting ( Too much money coming in to do that).
2. Build proper strong fences that leaves the river to the elephants for some kilometers and then it crosses the river and leave the river to the farmers. (Too expensive).
3. Get professionals to kill problem elephants and when there are too many a general cull or translocation, decided by scientists without involving politics and ideologies.

Read this one too: https://africageographic.com/stories/li ... agtravel-2

[Klipspringer]

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world ... to-angola/


Botswana elephants are moving to Angola
Botswana has an elephant overpopulation problem, so it’s opening its borders with Angola and letting the elephants do the rest
04 NOVEMBER 2020 - 12:12 MBONGENI MGUNI


Gaborone — Botswana may have found a solution to its elephant overpopulation: it’s going to encourage some of them to leave the country.


Botswana’s tourism industry, which accounts for a fifth of the economy, is heavily reliant on the world’s biggest elephant population, but the animals have become a political issue as there are too many of them and they destroy crops and occasionally trample villagers. Now, elephants are beginning to migrate into neighbouring Angola and the governments of both countries are helping them do so by removing landmines left over from Angola’s civil war and tearing down fences.

“It’s an idea we have, particularly looking at the overpopulation we have,” said Philda Kereng, Botswana’s environment minister. “We have to help Angola understand the value of elephants.”

Botswana’s 135,000 elephants mostly live in a 520,000km2 area known as the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, which spans five countries and is home to almost half the world’s African elephants. Angola’s elephants were pushed across the border by a decades-long civil war that ended in 2002. Illegal hunting elsewhere has also boosted Botswana’s elephant population.


Before the war, Angola had about 100,000 elephants, compared to less than 10,000 today, according to researchers. Most lived in the lush southeastern highlands, from which rivers feeding Botswana’s Okavango Delta wetlands originate.

“Southern Angola has prime elephant habitat and, if conditions are safe for elephants, they will return to Angola in great numbers,” said Mike Chase, the founder and director of research non-profit Elephants Without Borders. “It is natural for elephants to leave areas where numbers are high and seek out areas with fewer elephants for uncrowded access to food and water.”

His organisation has tagged almost 150 elephants with satellite tracking collars to map their movements in Botswana and neighbouring countries. Chase said some are now returning to Angola.

“I am confident that, if afforded the right protection, elephant numbers in Angola’s conservation areas could increase quickly,” he said.


More funding is needed for the removal of barriers such as livestock fences, the protection of migration corridors and the education of local communities, said Tamar Ron, a wildlife ecologist who has acted as biodiversity consultant to the Angolan government, by e-mail. Angola has allocated $60 m to remove landmines in the area.

“Angola needs to prepare for the expected migration and re-population of elephants and other wildlife into the country,” she said.

Bloomberg

[Richprins]

They had better warn the rural farmers...

[Lisbeth]

Excellent! As long as they do not use them to "remove" the landmines It's a win-win solution

[Klipspringer]

Excellent work on this article by AG

https://africageographic.com/stories/fe ... -botswana/

[Lisbeth]

The challenges are further illustrated by dispersals deeper into Botswana during the drought of 2017/2018 rather than into neighbouring range states.

Where did they migrate before?

In my opinion, the true cause of mortalities remains unknown and open to speculation.

If we have not been told by now...

If the elephants have what they need, why should they move, they are not by nature migrating animals. Nobody seems to take into consideration the weather change. Once the weather seasons were fixed. Now everything is changing and you cannot count on rainy and dry seasons anymore and this might also have influenced the elephants