Wildlife

Elephant Massacre in Botswana

Ninety elephant carcasses have been discovered in Botswana with their tusks hacked off, a charity said Tuesday, in what is believed to be one of Africa’s worst mass poaching sprees. Most of the animals killed were large bulls carrying heavy tusks, Elephants Without Borders said.

The grim discovery was made over several weeks during an aerial survey by Elephants Without Borders and Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks. The animals were shot with heavy-calibre rifles at watering spots near a popular wildlife sanctuary in the Okavango Delta.

The killing continues at a dizzying pace of about 30,000 elephants a year to meet demand for ivory in Asia, where tusks sell for around $1,000 (R15,200) a kilo. Elephants in Zambia and Angola, north of Botswana, “have been poached to the verge of local extinction, and poachers have now turned to Botswana.

The government was not immediately available to comment on rangers being apparently disarmed earlier this year. Botswana previously had a zero-tolerance approach to poaching, with a “shoot-to-kill” policy against poachers. Poachers have also targeted rhino, said Chase, after six white rhino carcasses were found in recent months.