Elephant conservation news 27 June - 03 JulyThe Born Free Foundation has condemned CITES' decision to authorise the killing of more elephants in Mozambique.
The Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has authorised an increase in the number of elephants allowed to be shot and killed in Mozambique from 40 to 60 per year, allAfrica.com reports.
Mozambique's agriculture minister Soares Nhaca welcomed the decision, telling news agency Agencia de Informacao de Mozambique that the increase will make it easier for the country's government to manage conflict between elephants and humans.
"The decision also means that we can increase the government's capacity to train wardens for various parks and wildlife reserves," he said.
However, Shelley Waterland from Born Free told elephant.co.uk news: "Killing elephants in no way addresses the root cause of the issue - such as habitat loss, competition for water, and the temptation presented by crops grown within elephant range.
"Indeed, in some situations, the conflict may be made even worse. Elephants are incredibly intelligent animals and the distress caused when an individual is shot is likely to cause other elephants to become more aggressive and less tolerant of humans."
Waterland added that CITES-regulated trophy hunting and human elephant conflict "are two entirely separate issues".
"So called 'problem' elephants may not necessarily be what the hunting community regard as good 'trophy' animals. Juvenile elephants can also cause problems but hunters will not be willing to pay to shoot them. Non-lethal solutions have got to be the only option."
