Botswana condemned for slaughtering elephants for independence celebrations

Elephant meat is common in some wildlife-rich communities, particularly when meat from legal hunts is distributed locally, but it is not an everyday staple.

Botswana also tightly regulates game meat, and its legal possession generally depends on proving it came from a lawful hunt.

The decision has reignited a long-running and often heated debate in Botswana over how the country manages its huge elephant population.

Botswana has more than 130,000 elephants and communities living alongside them have long complained about animals destroying crops, damaging property and sometimes killing people.

The government has defended regulated hunting as one way of managing the elephant population and human-wildlife conflict while generating income for communities.

The country banned trophy hunting in 2014 under former President Ian Khama but lifted the restrictions five years later under his successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Hunting has continued under President Duma Boko, who defeated Masisi in elections in 2024.

The government says proceeds from hunting supports conservation and local development.

Minister of Environment and Tourism Wynter Mmolotsi told parliament last year that special elephant quotas raised 15.6m pula ($1.1m; £820,000) in 2025 for projects in areas where elephants are found.

But conservation organisations have questioned whether the level of hunting is sustainable.

Supporters of Botswana’s hunting policy, however, argue that international criticism often overlooks the costs borne by rural communities living alongside one of the world’s biggest concentrations of elephants.

They say elephants destroy crops and infrastructure and pose a danger to people, particularly as their range increasingly overlaps with farms and settlements.