African Hunting Gazette – July 2019

http://www.africanhuntinggazette.com 11

holesthatwerepreviouslypumpedandmain-
tainedbythesafarihuntingcompaniesdried
up.Wildlifespeciesthatwereabletomigrate
toalternativewatersourcesdidso,whilethose
that couldn’t,perished.The huntingconces-
sionswereleftbarren,a landuseoptionde-
nied.Jobspromisedbythephotographiccom-
paniestotheunemployedhuntingcompanies’
staffnevermaterialized.
With thedemise ofsafari hunting,Brand
Botswanacouldnowpromoteitselfasa safe
havenintowhichelephantscouldescapefrom
thepersecutionofsafarihuntingintheneigh-
boringcountriesofZimbabweandNamibia.
Anendearingelephantorphanageà la Kenya’s
Sheldrickmodelwasestablished,nodoubtto
preyontheignoranceandwalletsofthegen-
eralpublic.
Allwasgoingwellforthenew“bloodless”
BrandBotswana,exceptforonepeskyproblem

• thatof explodingelephantnumbers.Growing
  concernamongscientistsandecologistsabout
  the impact of elephants on biodiversity, as
  wellas habitatdestruction,couldnoteasilybe
  dismissedbymarketingspin-doctors.It would
  be unconscionable toadmit that there were
  simply too many elephants for the habitat to

support.“Carryingcapacity”is a swearwordin

thepreservationistworld.

The Botswana Environment Statistics

WildlifeDigest 2014 reportedthattheresults

of an elephant census carried out by the

Department ofWildlife and National Parks

(DWNP) in

2003 showed

the number to

be around 109

500. In 2004
     it was 151000
     and in 2012,
     207 500.
     Ina 2008pa-
     perwrittenasa
     submission for
     her doctorate
     degree (under
     the supervision
     ofProfessorRudivanAardewhounashamedly
     admits tobeingfundedbytheanimalrights
     grouptheInternationalFundforAnimalWel-
     fare,IFAW)JessicaJunkercontends thatbe-
     tween 200000 and 400000 mayhavelived
     inBotswanaat thebeginningofthe19thcen-
     tury.Onehastowonderhow1 000-year-old
     baobabscouldhavesurvivedtheonslaughtof
     that many elephants. Accepting a 2008 figure

of 156000 elephants,shegoesontosurmise

thatnumbershadstabilized.

A 2010aerialsurveycarriedoutbyElephants

Without Borders (EWB) covering some 73

478 km² showedthatthe country’selephant

population in 2010 was estimatedtobe 128

0. The next
   surveyin 2014
   waspartofthe
   GreatElephant
   Census, which
   wasanattempt
   to establish
   elephant num-
   bers across Af-
   rica, and 129
   939 was the
   estimated pop-
   ulation in an
   extended range
   of 98425 km².The 2018 censuscoveredan
   evenlargerareaof 103662 km²andrevealeda
   populationof 130 000.Thesefigurescertainly
   seemtoreveal a stabilizingelephantpopula-
   tionevenas the species’ range expanded.If
   Botswanawasindeed providing refugefrom
   safarihuntinginZimbabweandNamibiathat
   alonewouldsurely have affected the elephant
   numbers?

Safarihunting

employeeswholost

thejobswiththe

huntingbanare

disillusioned.

Thebaobabsof

NorthernBotswana

areunderserious

threatfrom

elephant damage.

Trying to scratch out a living in elephant territory is extremely difficult.

Perhapsif Elephant Without

Bordersreleased the raw data

fromthe 2010, 2014 and 2018

censuses for neutral experts to

assess, the controversy could be

put to bed.