Botswana to give 500 elephants to Mozambique
Botswana will give Mozambique 500 elephants under the program to repopulate the species in Mozambican conservation areas, the Botswana Minister for International Affairs and Cooperation announced today.
“The idea is to give Mozambique 500 elephants, but the number could rise to 700 or 800 because they reproduced,” said Unity Dow, speaking moments after a meeting between Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and his Botswana counterpart Mokgweetsi Masisi, as part of a working visit that the head of the Botswana State is holding from now on to Mozambique.
The donation will be used for the elephant restocking program being carried out in the Mozambican conservation areas, according to the Mozambican government.
“Please, Mozambican people: I come to take the elephants,” concluded the chief of Botswana diplomacy.
Despite being one of the most emblematic animals in the natural spaces of Mozambique, the elephant is among the most threatened.
This year will be decisive in the diagnosis of the species in Mozambique since the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) is preparing to carry out the third elephant census of the country.
Data from ANAC indicate that, since 2009, the country has lost at least 10,000 elephants, and only in the Niassa Reserve, the country’s largest protected area, the total number of this species increased from 12,000 to 4,400 in three years (between 2011 and 2014 ).
The lack of human and material resources for monitoring the country’s extensive conservation areas is seen as the main obstacle to elephant preservation, the main threat of which is poaching.
