S. Africa to kill elephants to curb population growth

PRETORIA, South Africa - South Africa said yesterday that it would start killing elephants to reduce their burgeoning numbers, ending a 13-year ban and possibly setting a precedent for other African nations.

Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the government was left with no choice but to reintroduce killing elephants "as a last option and under very strict conditions" to reduce environmental degradation and rising conflicts with humans.

There will be no "wholesale slaughter," he said.

The announcement follows months of impassioned debate, with some conservationists arguing for elephant killings to protect the ecosystem, and animal-welfare groups outraged at the prospect of killing one of the planet's most intelligent and self-aware creatures.

South Africa has been hugely successful in protecting its elephant population, once on the verge of extinction in parts of the country. But it has become a victim of its own success. The number of elephants, which have no natural predators other than humans, is growing more than 5 percent a year and is expected to double by 2020.

The decades of the big white hunter in the 1800s brought Africa's elephants near extinction. South Africa had just 200 elephants at the beginning of the 20th century.

Now South Africa, Namibia and Botswana all have booming populations as a result of conservation efforts, while those of east and west African nations are struggling because of large-scale poaching.

South Africa has about 18,000 elephants, and southern Africa is home to about 300,000 - half of all the elephants on the continent.

Elephants can turn woodlands to grass and stubs in a matter of years. They need to roam widely to get their daily diet of about 660 pounds of grass, leaves and twigs and up to 52 gallons of water. And they increasingly clash with people.

Van Schalkwyk said, "Our simple reality is that elephant population density has risen so much in some southern African countries that there is concern about impacts on the landscape, the viability of other species, and the livelihoods and safety of people living within elephant ranges."

South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, which has 165,000 elephants - more than any other country - all used to kill elephants before international outrage forced an end to the practice.

South Africa remains fearful of upsetting tourists who flock to see the Big Five animals - elephant, lion, rhino, leopard and buffalo.

"There are few other creatures on Earth that have the ability of elephants to 'connect' with humans in a very special way," van Schalkwyk said.

Michele Pickover, a spokeswoman for Animal Rights Africa, which is threatening to promote tourist boycotts, said killing elephants was "undeniably cruel and morally reprehensible."

But the World Wildlife Fund cautiously welcomed the government's move.

Said Rob Little, acting chief executive of WWF South Africa: "They are doing the responsible thing."