Where Elephants Roam, Wildlife Pact Draws Scorn as ‘Senseless’
- Botswana’s Masisi says CITES agreement has been ‘hijacked’
- Some African nations want to sell ivory stockpiles despite ban
Molelo, Panda and Tuli eat and play in the grasses in the elephant orphanage at Elephants Without Borders in Kasane, Botswana on May 24, 2019.
Photographer: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images
President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana, which has the world’s largest elephant population, said a global pact to regulate wildlife trade has become “senseless” and he will press ahead with a plan to lead southern African nations out of it.
Botswana was angered when proposals to ease some trade restrictions were thrown out at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, in Geneva last month. With an elephant population of about 130,000, the government argues it has too many, and they are killing villagers and destroying their crops. International trade in ivory and rhino horns is banned by CITES.