to begin with this year , Zimbabwe caused an external outcry when its plans to trade wild - caught elephant calves to oversea buyers were revealed . alas , despite petitions and calls for the plans to be degenerate , this weekendsaw 24 of the animals ship out to China to be put on display in zoos and circuses .
It ’s estimated that each calf was sold for between $ 40,000 and $ 60,000 , which the government claims will be put towards conservation efforts , specifically to pay the pay of rangers whose job it is to protect the animals in the first lieu . They say that they presently have too many elephants in Hwange National Park , the country ’s prominent park , and the selection are either selling or culling them .
environmentalist around the world have knock the move , peculiarly since the young animals had to be torn from their mothers . “ The condition in which these brute were exported are extremely fell , ” Johnny Rodrigues , chairman of the animal rights group Conservation Task Force , told AFP , “ and we objurgate the whole musical theme of separating sister elephants from their female parent . ”
Paradoxically , the sale of the elephants isn’tactually illegalunder international law , despite restrictions on the trade of product derived from elephant persona , such as bone . Under theConvention on International Trade in Endangered Speciesof Wild Fauna and Flora ( CITES ) , an international treaty drawn up to protect wildlife against over - exploitation , sell the calves qualifies as a way for generating preservation income .
According to prescribed reports , Zimbabwe has about 80,000 elephants , but take that could easily be trim back to 42,000 . This is despite the fact that over the retiring two years alone , it ’s estimated that 100,000 of the animals have been mow down for their ivory . Furthermore , Hwange National Park , where they claim the elephants are from , suffered the highest massacre of animal in southerly Africa in 25 age whenhundreds of elephantswere kill by poison waterholes .
Aninvestigative articlepublished in National Geographic in the first place this year showed the holding quickness for 80 untested elephants before they were export to alien emptor , but some arrogate that the Zimbabwean government have sold up to 200 of the baby animals to China alone . It ’s not even unclouded that all the brute were caught in Zimbabwe itself , as many of them are suggest to have originated in Botswana , Zambia , and even Namibia .
