South Africa lifts 13-year ban on killing elephants

South Africa lifted a 13-year ban on killing elephants Thursday, a move conservationists warn could encourage poachers to slaughter the animals for ivory and threaten dwindling populations elsewhere on the continent, the Associated Press reports.

Elephants -- once on the verge of extinction in some parts of South Africa -- are flourishing, with the population there growing more than 5% annually in recent years as a result of a well-managed national parks industry.

South African authorities want to keep a lid on their burgeoning numbers and protect the elephants' viability. Killing elephants, which have no predators and can turn woodlands to grass and stubs in a matter of years, is the best way to control the population, South African officials say.

The AP reports that conservationists worry about the repercussions of South Africa's move.

In war-ravaged Congo's Virunga National Park, for example, 14 elephants have been killed since mid-April by soldiers, militias and villagers -- an upsurge in poaching that is "part of a widespread slaughter across the Congo Basin" of Central Africa, according to Dr. Emmanuel de Merode, director of the conservation group WildlifeDirect.

For the full AP report, a photo gallery and other stories on elephants, click here.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Mrs. CR Mannino]

PLEASE ADD AN OPTION TO "SHARE" (FORWARD) EACH ARTICLE -

THANKS

[lucille humair]

Elephants have no predators?? The sentance should read that adult elephants have no predators as the babies are attacked, killed & eaten by lions that is if they are able to pass the wall that the females make with their bodies to protect the little ones.

[MARIA]

DAM THEY ARE LEARNING FROM AMERICANS PEOPLE TO KILL ANIMALS. WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMMING TO THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY MARIA

[MARIA]

YOU ARE WRONG ELEPHANTS DO HAVE PREDATORS MAN MAN MAN MAN MAN MAN. AND ONLY MAN AND NO ONE DEFFENDES THEM EATHER ANIMALS DEFFEND THEMSELFS HOW THEY CAN AND THEY TRY HARD AND WHEN THEY DO MAN KILLS THEM STUPED PEOPLE. ANIMALS HAVE MORE BRAIN THAN HUMANS. YOU KNOW WHAT IN MY BACK YARD I FEED EVERY ANIMAL WILD ANIMAL I SEE EVEN CAYOTES, WOLFS, BIRDS, BUGS, ANYTHING THAT MOVES AND I FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I SEE A INJURED ANIMAL ANYWERE I PICK THEM UP TAKE THEM HOME GET THEM BETTER TAKE THEM BACK IN THE WILD AND LOOSE FEEL SO GOOD DAM POROUD OF MY SELF NOT LIKE STUCK UP LIKE YOU GUYS AND COLD MARIA

[SOMEONE]

THIS ELEPHANT THING, IF YOU WANT TO PENETRATE IN SOMEONE, MAKE YOUR OWN INVENTIONS, PLEASE DO NOT TRY THE ANIMAL FABLES. WHATEVER I CREATE, FITS ONLY IN MY OWN PERSONALITY. JUST BE POLITE AND HONEST, YOU WILL BE AT YOUR BEST. APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH.

[Herbert Erdmenger]

Killing the beautiful elephants? Well...I can tell you...I will never ever set foot in that horrible country. I wonder...where is the ivory being sold by that Minister that order the shooting? How would he like it if it were the other way around and the elephants were in the position of feeding rat poison to his grand children, children, himself and wife, and his parents?I hope he drowns himself in a sewer ditch...soon