The capture and planned export of baby elephants in Zimbabwe could negatively impact the country’s tourism industry, Johnny Rodrigues, leader of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force has warned. The country plans to export the elephants to China and the United Arab Emirates.
Rodrigues told Tourism Update: “The government is just not listening. They are undeterred by the outcry. However, for the moment tourism brings in about R840m a year. If tourists stop coming that would be a huge loss for Zimbabwe.”
According to Rodrigues, a group representing over 31 leading US and Canadian tour operators specialising in photographic safaris to Africa reportedly signed a letter to the Zimbabwe government stating that if the exportation goes ahead, they will not be bringing any more tourists to Zimbabwe. The group reportedly also said potential travellers to Zimbabwe have already started reconsidering Zimbabwe as a destination for their next holidays.
According to a SAPA report, Prince Mupazviriho, who is the Permanent Secretary in the Environment, Water and Climate Ministry, said the sale would go ahead, under CITES parameters. The report states that Zimbabwe has more than 80 000 elephant and that the money from the sale can be used to fund the cash-strapped state national parks.
However, these figures are flawed according to Rodrigues. He explains that since 1997, the government has not conducted an official countrywide count of the elephant population, which means that there are no reliable data available. He also suggested that the likelihood that the revenue raised from the selling of the animals would go back into conservation was minimal, if not non-existent.
Rodrigues said that to avoid boycotts from the international travel community, the government needed to show the world that they took care of their elephants and they needed to reintroduce the captured animals back into the wild. “These elephants don’t belong to the government, they belong to the country.”
