OMM Redaksiyası
Botswana has faced criticism after authorising the killing of 23 elephants and other wild animals to provide meat for nationwide celebrations marking the country’s 60th anniversary of independence, according to the BBC.
A licence issued by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism permits the hunting of the animals for “complimentary purposes”. The game meat is expected to be served during traditional feasts on Wednesday, when Botswana is holding events including a carnival in Gaborone, cultural performances, concerts and sporting activities.
Conservation concerns
The Botswana-based Elephant Protection Society warned that the decision could undermine conservation efforts. Its chairman, Oaitse Nawa, said elephants needed greater protection and that government-sanctioned killings could create the impression that killing the animals was acceptable.
“Elephants have lost their social structures because they are always being pushed from one place to another by gunshots,” Nawa told the BBC.
Social media users have also raised concerns about consuming game meat amid an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which has led authorities to introduce measures to contain its spread.
Tshenatshe Monwela, an elder from the north-western tourism town of Maun, told local media that his community should have received buffalo instead. He said elephants had particular cultural and ecological significance and that Botswana’s role in protecting wildlife and livestock should have been reflected in the meat allocation.
Concerns over meat distribution
The 23 elephants were allocated across eight districts. It was not immediately clear how many had been killed by Wednesday morning, while the BBC said it had asked the government for comment.
Local media published images showing residents gathering around elephant carcasses, with some using knives and sharing the meat. In Chobe, a wildlife-rich district near the borders with Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, an MP raised concerns after residents reportedly collected meat directly from a carcass at a school.
MP Simasiku Mapulanga said the process risked causing congestion and disadvantaging elderly people, pregnant women and people with disabilities. He suggested that the meat be processed into five-kilogram or 10-kilogram packages to improve hygiene and ensure fairer distribution.
“For the sake of dignity, fairness and public hygiene, we respectfully call on the hunter and the relevant leadership to ensure that future distributions are properly organised,” Mapulanga wrote on Facebook.
Botswana’s elephant management debate
Elephant meat is consumed in some wildlife-rich communities, particularly when meat from legal hunts is distributed locally, although it is not an everyday staple. Botswana tightly regulates game meat, and legal possession generally depends on proving that it came from an authorised hunt.
The decision has renewed debate over how Botswana manages its elephant population, which exceeds 130,000. Communities living alongside the animals have long complained about crop destruction, property damage and occasional deaths.
The government says regulated hunting helps manage the elephant population and reduce human-wildlife conflict while generating income for local communities. Botswana banned trophy hunting in 2014 under former President Ian Khama, but the restrictions were lifted five years later under his successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi. Hunting has continued under President Duma Boko, who defeated Masisi in the 2024 elections.
Authorities say hunting proceeds support conservation and local development. Environment and Tourism Minister Wynter Mmolotsi told parliament last year that special elephant quotas raised 15.6 million pula ($1.1 million; £820,000) in 2025 for projects in areas where elephants are found.
Conservation organisations have questioned whether the level of hunting is sustainable. Supporters of the policy argue that international criticism often overlooks the costs faced by rural communities living alongside one of the world’s largest elephant populations, including damage to crops and infrastructure and risks to human safety.
