Botswana Lifts Elephant Hunting Ban

​worldanimalnews.com/urgent-call-to-action-help-reinstate-botswanas-elephant-hunting-ban-during-covid-19-pandemic/

At a time where elephants face an unknown future, the very last thing you'd expect to hear at this time is that a government has lifted a ban on hunting them. Unfortunately, that is exactly the case in Botswana after a 5 year ban on hunting elephants was lifted in 2019. The only thing currently saving the lives of these elephants is the lack of air travel that would bring hunters to Botswana. This will not last forever and these elephants are in grave danger of being hunted to extinction.

Elephants in Botswana have long been in conflict with people. Local watering holes have dried up pushing the elephants closer to farming and agriculture areas in search of water. This is leading to conflicts with farmers where elephants have caused damage to property and crops. Unfortunately, elephants are viewed as nothing more than a nuisance as opposed to a species that desperately needs to be protected. This puts elephants in serious danger of being killed for simply trying to survive. 

Elephants are classified as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act which indicates that they are in danger of going extinct. There are approximately 40 to 50 thousand elephants left on this planet and they face a multitude of perils that push them further towards extinction. Habitat loss through human growth and development, human conflict, and illegal poaching all pose serious risks to the survival of elephants. 

Knowing this, I'm flabbergasted at any kind of decision that lifts protections for elephants. By removing bans on hunting elephants, the government in Botswana is sending out a very clear message that the survival of the species is significantly less important than the farming / livestock industry, less important than the money generated by permitted hunts, and less important than the global population who generally wants to see elephants protected properly. Without a supportive program to protect and conserve the elephants across the globe, they will undoubtedly go extinct in the wild. That's why it is imperative that we reach out to the Botswana government and express our discontent over their decision to lift bans on hunting.

Elephants are incredibly intelligent and loving animals. In fact, elephants have been proven to grieve over family / friends who have been killed and suffer extreme trauma when witnessing other elephants being killed. Elephants carry emotional trauma with them for the rest of their lives and those who have witnessed hunters slaughtering other elephants will almost always react with aggression towards humans in the future. This aggression towards humans will lead to further human / animal conflicts that will result in their being killed. It's a completely unacceptable cycle that can only be stopped by our actions.

It's time to come together as a global community to protect our planet's most vulnerable species'. It's time to ban any kind of permitted hunting of wild, endangered animals. This is a no brainer, we shouldn't be allowing anyone to hunt any animal that is listed as endangered. It's thoughtless and absolutely neglectful of our duty to this planet and the animals that live on it. We need to stand up for animals, not watch as they disappear from our planet.

Follow the link at the top of this post to the original story from World Animal News. They list a few ways you can reach out to the Botswana government and express your discontent over their decision to lift the hunting ban. It's an opportunity for us to let them know how important elephants are to us and why it's important to work with them as opposed to against them for the sake of their existence.

HAPPY VEG