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Gaborone. — Botswana may have found a solution to its elephant overpopulation: it’s going to encourage some of them to leave the country.
Botswana’s tourism industry, which accounts for a fifth of the economy, is heavily reliant on the world’s biggest elephant population, but the animals have become a political issue as there are too many of them and they destroy crops and occasionally trample villagers. Now, elephants are beginning to migrate into neighbouring Angola and the governments of both countries are helping them do so by removing landmines left over from Angola’s civil war and tearing down fences.
“It’s an idea we have, particularly looking at the overpopulation we have,” said Philda Kereng, Botswana’s environment minister. “We have to help Angola understand the value of elephants.” — Bloomberg.
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