Botswana auctioned six licences last Friday to hunt 60 elephants for BWP25.7 million ($2.3 million), according news reports.
The auction conducted by Auctionit Botswana was the first since President Mokgweetsi Masisi lifted a five-year ban on big game hunting last May.
“Seven hunting packages, of 10 elephants each, were available for auction. Only one (package) was not sold as no bidders met the reserve price of 2 million pula ($181,000),” Auctionit Botswana managing director Adrian Rass was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“The six (packages) were sold for a total price of 25.7 million pula.”
Botswana has the world’s biggest population of elephants.
Farmers have complained of a growing number of incidents with elephants, which at times destroy crops and trample villagers to death.
Botswana is said to have issued a quota for the killing of 272 of the animals in 2020, of which foreign hunters will be allowed to shoot 202 elephants and export trophies.
Botswana and its neighbours Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have of late been reevaluating conservation laws to balance the need to protect sought-after animals from poaching while managing the danger they pose to humans.
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