The undersigned organisations are deeply concerned by the announcements by some governments in southern Africa to cull large numbers of elephants and other wild animals, including in National Parks.
In late August 2024, Namibia declared it would kill 723 wild animals, including 83 elephants and later increased this number to 100. Shortly afterwards, Zimbabwe announced its intention to kill at least 200 elephants.
The justifications given for these threats include a combination of providing meat to drought-stricken citizens, reducing pressure on land and water resources, mitigating human-elephant conflict, and reducing alleged wildlife over-population. However, while we acknowledge the severity of one of the worst droughts in decades in southern Africa, the killing of large numbers of wild animals cannot be justified for the reasons published in this statement:
PLEASE READ THE FULL STATEMENT
©WAPFSA 2024. All Rights Reserved.