In Botswana, where the world's second largest diamond was found, 20,000 elephants will be culled due to famine and drought.
President Mokgweetsi Masisi's threats of a mass cull of elephants seem set to come true. The same 20,000 unfortunate animals he wanted to send to Germany in response to a proposal to limit imports of hunting trophies are now at risk of being canned.
According to veterinarians, it's all for humane reasons. The elephants, who have multiplied, are short of food, and because of the worst drought in 50 years, they also lack water.
They plan to use large-caliber weapons and tranquilisers for the shooting, and then preserve the meat and send it to local communities. According to experts, one elephant is about 3,300 portions of food, and 20,000 individuals are 11 million cans of food. Enough for everyone.
It would seem that all that is just forced measures - hunger, crop failure. But the news from a month ago about a 2492-carat diamond worth an estimated $100 million, found at one of the deposits in Botswana, plays interestingly against this background.
Of course, I don’t claim to be the main animal rights activist, but for that kind of money, it seems to me, it would have been possible to come up with a less bloody way to help people (and elephants).
President Mokgweetsi Masisi's threats of a mass cull of elephants seem set to come true. The same 20,000 unfortunate animals he wanted to send to Germany in response to a proposal to limit imports of hunting trophies are now at risk of being canned.
According to veterinarians, it's all for humane reasons. The elephants, who have multiplied, are short of food, and because of the worst drought in 50 years, they also lack water.
They plan to use large-caliber weapons and tranquilisers for the shooting, and then preserve the meat and send it to local communities. According to experts, one elephant is about 3,300 portions of food, and 20,000 individuals are 11 million cans of food. Enough for everyone.
It would seem that all that is just forced measures - hunger, crop failure. But the news from a month ago about a 2492-carat diamond worth an estimated $100 million, found at one of the deposits in Botswana, plays interestingly against this background.
Of course, I don’t claim to be the main animal rights activist, but for that kind of money, it seems to me, it would have been possible to come up with a less bloody way to help people (and elephants).