Botswana’s efforts to relocate surplus elephants are hitting a cost wall as prospective recipient countries balk at huge transportation bills, with Mozambique the latest to backtrack.
GAZETTE REPORTER
Botswana’s efforts to reduce its burgeoning elephant population by relocating some of the animals to other African countries are being frustrated by the enormous cost of transportation, Minister of Environment and Tourism Wynter Mmolotsi has revealed.
According to Mmolotsi, while several countries have shown interest in receiving elephants from Botswana, the deals have struggled to get off the ground once prospective recipients are confronted with the cost and logistical burden of moving the giant mammals.
“Migration processes have been frustrated by the transportation costs because these countries are not prepared to bear the insurmountable costs of transporting the elephants,” Mmolotsi told The Botswana Gazette.
MOZAMBIQUE BACKS OFF
He revealed that Mozambique recently expressed interest in receiving elephants from Botswana but retreated after learning that it would have to shoulder the transportation costs.
“Mozambique also recently expressed interest, but when they learnt that they would have to transport the elephants themselves, they backtracked,” the minister said.
COSTLY EXERCISE
Moving elephants over long distances is a complex undertaking involving capture, specialised transportation, veterinary expertise and extensive logistical planning.
The cost problem has previously been acknowledged by President Duma Boko. In February, Boko said transportation of elephants to Mozambique had proved prohibitively expensive and suggested that Botswana should explore natural migration corridors as an alternative.
Botswana previously pledged thousands of elephants to Angola, while Mozambique has also featured among countries identified as potential recipients.
ELEPHANT PRESSURE
Botswana hosts one of the world’s largest populations of African savannah elephants, with government estimates in recent years putting the herd at more than 130,000.
While the population is regarded as a major conservation success, it has also become a source of intense human-wildlife conflict, particularly in communities within the elephants’ expanding range.
Elephants raid crops, damage fences and water infrastructure and occasionally injure or kill people, leaving communities in wildlife areas bearing much of the cost of living alongside the animals.
CORRIDOR OPTION
Mmolotsi has acknowledged the continuing pressure, telling Parliament this year that government was pursuing several interventions, including identifying wildlife corridors, translocation, compensation, hunting quotas and other measures aimed at reducing conflict between people and wildlife.
With physical relocation proving prohibitively expensive, attention is increasingly shifting towards opening migration corridors that could enable elephants to disperse naturally into neighbouring countries.