elephants, the ivory trade and football

[saint-spoon]

It might seem a daft title but I have just been reading about plans to possibly allow elephant culling in South Africa’s Kruger national park to be resumed to maintain biodiversity. I am by no means and expert in this field and will therefore defer judgement until such time as I can make an unbiased and well informed decision; obviously I don’t want any elephants to die but if it save vital habitat for other animals then necessity may take precedence. On the plus side the elephant population has seen a healthy growth since culling stopped ten years ago and is thus becoming untenable within the bounds of the park; exporting herds to other areas is now seen by many as being cruel to a highly sensitive and intelligent animal such as an elephant and darting with contraceptives is expensive and proving unreliable in the long term. On the down side, apart from the obvious killing, is the pressure additional stocks of ivory will put on the international arena to re-open the trade legally (which will in turn proliferate poaching once more).
A decision is unlikely to be made before 2010 when SA host the world cup as any reintroduction of culling would undoubtedly be seen as potentially tainting of this international event.
So there we have it, the future of thousands of elephants, the bio-diversity of South Africa’s reserves and the beautiful game are inextricably linked. Who’d have thought it?