Pasha 105: Two academics weigh in on Botswana allowing elephant hunting

Pasha - from The Conversation Africa

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Botswana recently offered the rights to shoot around 300 elephants. There have been mixed feelings about this decision. Some say licensed hunting is ecologically necessary. They also say rural communities need revenue from hunting and are at risk of human-wildlife conflict. Others have criticised it heavily, disputing the claim that hunting is a solution to various problems and pointing to its negative consequences.

Botswana is home to about one third of Africa’s elephants and the numbers have increased over the years. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has categorised savanna elephants as endangered, but they can be hunted if the decision to allow it is backed by scientific evidence.

In today’s episode of Pasha, Ross Harvey, a senior research associate at the Institute for the Future of Knowledge at the University of Johannesburg, and Peet van der Merwe, a professor in tourism at North-West University, take us through both sides of the argument.

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Photo:
“African Elephants in Botswana” by 2630ben found on Shutterstock

Music: “Happy African Village” by John Bartmann, found on FreeMusicArchive.org licensed under CC0 1.

“Ambient guitar X1 - Loop mode” by frankum, found on Freesound licensed under Attribution License.