21/12/2022
We are giving 15 elephants away to anti-hunters, so they can demonstrate how to manage these animals without hunting!
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We have sent out the following open letter:
Would you like to adopt a family group of elephants?
You can have them for free – no strings attached!
Dear Mr. Goncalves,
A landowner in South Africa has kindly decided to donate an entire family group of approximately 15 wild elephants to anyone who can provide suitable long-term habitat and non-lethal management of the animals. The reason behind this donation is that the area where the elephants currently live has become overpopulated. There is not enough food in the area to sustain the current elephant population in the long run.
Why don't you show us your alternatives to hunting/culling? This is your chance!
The landowner is willing to give away the surplus family group of elephants (that is approximately 15 animals) to anyone who will:
1. Provide suitable habitat for the elephants where they can roam freely and live as wild elephants
2. Have the elephants professionally translocated by the end of May 2023 at your own cost
3. Be transparent about the future management of this particular group of elephants
And there are almost certainly more free elephants for anyone who comes up with a viable long-term solution. Probably thousands of them.
But let's start with this family group. You can have them. Do you want them?
If you are seriously interested in taking over this family group of elephants, we will put you in contact with the owner. We will not disclose the name of the owner nor the location of the elephants to anyone other than serious takers due to the obvious security risks involved. You can reach us at the following email:
[email protected]
Please spread the word. We are willing to donate these elephants to anyone who meets the above criteria. If you cannot care for these animals maybe somebody else in the animal rights community can.
If there are no takers, the elephant numbers will be reduced the proven way. And yes – that means that elephants will be shot and processed into meat for consumption.
Background
We've all heard that the African Bush Elephant is classified as an endangered species. In southern Africa, however, a lot of the habitat suitable for elephants is massively overpopulated. The development is decreasing the natural carrying capacity for many species – including the elephants – and will sooner or later lead to local mass die-offs in the wake of droughts or simple depletion of natural food resources. The overabundance of elephants is becoming an increasing threat to the functionality of local ecosystems.
It is widely acknowledged that elephant overpopulation leads to the degradation of natural habitats. Among many others the Humane Society of the United States – who strongly oppose hunting / culling of elephants - has publicly stated:
"Failure to control the reproduction of the species ... leads to a population that exceeds the carrying capacity of the reserve and to habitat degradation,"
However, controlling the reproduction of elephants in areas where the numbers have already exceeded the carrying capacity will not solve the problem.
The only sensible solution from a practical nature conservation perspective is to actively reduce the number of elephants to fit the carrying capacity of the areas holding them. Reductions of local elephant populations are achievable through either translocation, hunting / culling (killing the surplus elephants), or (with much slower results) birth control.
Unfortunately, translocation is not a real possibility as all suitable areas in southern Africa are either overpopulated or on their way to becoming so. Finding takers with the necessary habitat and willingness to pay for professional capture and translocation is nearly impossible.
Birth control is also a less-than-desirable solution. In the long term, it has the same effect on the future population as hunting / culling, but it is arguably much more stressful to the animals to dart them over and over than it is to shoot them. Furthermore, it is debatable whether populations managed with injections of birth control medications can genuinely be considered wild animals.
On top of that, birth control is a costly and unnatural procedure that keeps many landowners from wanting elephants on their land as the surplus animals will only cost a lot of money rather than bring an income. It also litters the habitat with non-biodegradable plastic and metal darts – flying syringes with sharp needles - one for each elephant cow darted every year.
Most importantly, birth control does not solve any immediate overpopulation problems. It will not reduce the population fast enough to prevent damage to ecosystems caused by current overpopulation.
Therefore, hunting/culling surplus animals is the best practice when numbers need to be reduced. For the same reason, we cull red deer in Scotland, wild boar in Germany, whitetail in the US, and just about any other wildlife population that breeds well and eventually approaches the natural carrying capacity of its habitat. It's not a big drama. On the contrary, it is a great conservation success story that elephants in southern Africa thrive so well that their numbers exceed the carrying capacity of the available habitat.
Hunting/culling surplus animals protect local biodiversity by protecting entire ecosystems. On top of that, it yields nutritional organic and fully sustainable wild meat, generates income for local communities, and therefore creates a strong financial incentive for landowners to set aside land for wildlife habitat.
Action speaks louder than words
We sincerely hope that you or someone else on the anti-hunting side of the nature Conservation community will adopt these and other surplus elephants. A lot of landowners, nature conservation professionals, and hunters, are looking forward to a real-life demonstration of the non-lethal management alternatives that all of you in the anti-hunting and animal welfare organizations claim you have.
Please adopt this family group of elephants and show us your alternatives. We need a viable long-term solution for tens of thousands of elephants in southern Africa – this is a good start.
Contact us no later than May 31st 2023 on:
[email protected]
Jens Ulrik Høgh
Nordic Safari Club - Conservation
We will send this open letter directly to the following people/organizations. Please help us to spread this as widely as possible. Let us see if anyone steps up and "saves" these elephants or if it is all just talk...
Sir Roger Gale
Will Travers / Born Free Foundation
Eduardo Goncalves
Carrie Johnson / Aspinall Foundation
Zac Goldsmith
Ricky Gervais
Peter Egan
Kevin Pietersen
Pierce Morgan
IFAW
Humane Society United States
PETA
Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Jane Goodall
