Scientists have blasted a plan to cull thousands of elephants in the Kruger National Park, instead recommending contraception to reduce numbers.
“This cull is abhorrent and needs to be stopped,” Southern African Association for the Advancement of Science president Ian Raper said in Johannesburg on Friday.
“The technology involved in contraception has come a long way,” he added.
The non-hormonal contraceptives, derived from pig proteins, show no side effects and can be administered from a helicopter at an annual cost of R1,4-million.
The South African National Parks board has proposed slaughtering between 5 000 and 7 000 elephants it claims are damaging the biodiversity of the Kruger National Park.
“Studies show that it is an elephant bull that pushes over trees. A cull would involve killing of herds which are made of females and babies,” said Lawrence Anthony, founder of The Earth organisation, a South Africa-based international conservation group.
With little evidence that elephants are damaging the park, more research has to be done, he said, adding that a team of scientists will be put together to advise the government on the cull.
“With all of our expertise, knowledge and ability, we can certainly find a better solution to slaughtering them [elephants] by their thousands.”
There is a growing concern that the underlying motivation for the cull is profit from the sale of elephant meat, skin and by-products — estimated by The Earth organisation at R6,5-million for every 800 elephants killed.
New births will ensure a steady supply of meat — and income — if the cull takes place over many years, as is planned.
“This would, of course, explain the reluctance to fully explore contraception as a viable alternative, for contraception means no births, no meat and no extra income,” Anthony said.
“An elephant slaughter of this size is unprecedented in international conservation history and will undoubtedly precipitate a concerted and international animal rights campaign directed at the cull,” he said.
South African National Parks did not respond to the Mail & Guardian Online‘s queries on Friday afternoon.