The scale of poaching in Botswana is by far the largest the wildlife experts have seen or read about in Africa to date, HuffPost reported. In recent massacre, poachers kill 90 elephants.
Botswana’s conservationists have discovered the carcasses of 90 elephants over several weeks, that is sparking fears of a poaching boom in a country that has traditionally been a safe haven for tens of thousands of the gentle giants. A conservation biologist Mike Chase who founded the environmental group Elephants Without Borders urges to stop the killing elephants in Botswana. According to him, 90 elephants and six rhinos were killed by poachers who “appear to be targeting elephant bulls when they come down to drink at seasonal pans.”
There is no need to say that the dozens of elephants massacred for their tusks in Botswana where the wildlife experts and the rangers we are counting dead elephants every day. The saddest thing is the slain elephants were presumably carrying the heaviest tusks in the region of 60-70 pounds or even larger. Mike Chase who spearheaded a two-year Great Elephant Census to count every elephant on the African continent, said that a clear order has been put out for tusks of a specific weight. The biologists suspect such large ivory is in heavy demand, considering that there are few large tuskers left in Africa.
The UK prime minister Theresa May condemned the poachers’ activity, saying Britain will continue to work with Botswana, who have a long and successful conservation programme.
“We are leading the fight on wildlife crime, and I look forward to hosting the #endwildlifecrime summit in London next month,”
PM May added.
