News
In the news
Tuesday February 26th 2008
South Africa lifts the ban on culling elephants
The 1995 decision by the South African government to ban the culling of elephants has, this week, been overturned.
Campaigners believe that up to 10,000 elephants may be killed. The government said it was taking the action in order to control the animals' growing population, which they attribute to having a detrimental effect on other species, the landscape and the safety of local people.
Today, one of the major issues in elephant conservation is the conflict between elephants and a growing human population. Up to 80% of the elephant's range occurs outside of protected areas, where they frequently cause widespread damage to agriculture and water supplies. This conflict often results in injury or death for both people and elephants.
