According to the latest New Scientist, a bloody good mag, the Zimbabwe government is planning to sell elephants to private citizens. The buyer must live in Zimbabwe and must have enough land to keep them. Going by the state of the current government, San Nakji is suspicious of the motives. According to the article, it is for wildlife farming... Now farming brings to mind cows, sheep and the like. Animals bred for meat. Is this what they are after? With their shattered economy are they encouraging the farming of elephants for meat and ivory? The animal lover in me is against this, but there is a part of me which can see the sense...
I have seen enough wildlife documentaries to know that elephants are much like humans. That is they destroy their environment. This of course causes problems for the elephant meaning they have to continually travel to find food. With the competition of humans, the elephant cannot win and generally suffers culls as a result. If elephant farming is encouraged, it may mean valuable money for the economy and a good way to control the elephant population...
Still most of me is against this. I have seen the way elephants treat their dead, they are accutely aware, perhaps even of their own mortality...
San Nakji for President!
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