After elephant massacre, Botswana mulls end to hunting ban
Lawmakers claim there are too many of the animals in the country and they are becoming unmanageable in some places
Botswana launched a review on Wednesday of a 2014 hunting ban imposed to reverse a decline in elephants and other wildlife.
The prohibition on big game sport hunting was the work of ex-president Ian Khama, a keen conservationist, to shield species decimated by hunting and habitat loss.
But lawmakers from the ruling Botswana Democratic party have been lobbying to overturn the ban, especially on elephant hunting, saying populations have become unmanageably large in parts – placing the animals on a collision course with humans.
Khama’s successor, President Mokgweetsi Masisi, launched a month of nationwide consultations on Wednesday that could ring in the end of the ban.
