The Sale Of Elephants Is Necessary - ZimParks Defends Selling Elephants

ZimParks has defended selling elephants, a move that made international headlines a few days ago, saying there was elephant overpopulation at Hwange National Park and it was now a nightmare to get water and food for all of them the Chronicle reports.

Zimparks spokesperson Mr Farawo said they had to sell the elephants because they can’t cope with the numbers:

We have people who claim to love the elephants so much, yet do less to ensure that those elephants get the best quality of life. They are now overpopulated and sharing scarce resources in their habitat, which is also not good. They are now migrating to communal areas in search of food and water which has spiked human-wildlife contact in areas near national parks, leading to a rise in numbers of people killed by the jumbos. The sale of elephants is necessary as we are not coping well with the huge numbers.

32 baby elephants were loaded on a cargo plane last week reportedly headed for Chinese zoos even though it was not made public where the elephants were going.

More: The Chronicle