1. NEWS

The Republic of Zimbabwe is going to sell 500 licenses to hunt elephants this year. A license to hunt one elephant will go for as much as $70k

The gov claims the money will be used to fund national parks & that the growing elephant population has become a safety hazard
2. One of the things I've tried to share with my followers is how unpopular elephants are in certain African countries. Deeply unpopular. Human-wildlife conflict is a major issue.

But allowing for the hunting of elephants doesn't solve this problem in the long-term.
3. There are solutions to deal with human-elephant conflict. For example, elephants are terrified of bees. Farms with bee hives lining their borders keep elephants away. In other countries, shooting elephants with contraception darts has been stunningly effective.
4. But elephant hunting is trouble. What we've learned when it comes to elephants is when you allow for an activity like hunting or selling of ivory to be licensed and regulated, poachers and other nefarious characters take advantage of it.
5. We also know that Zimbabwe uses hunting as a way to sell baby elephants to China. The former First Lady of Zimbabwe Grace Mugabe used to pay off debts this way.

Here's a thread I did a few years ago. https://twitter.com/yashar/status/915419065971245056?s=20
6. Young elephants were taken from their mothers in Zimbabwe. Now they’re in cages in China.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/24/africa/zimbabwe-elephant-trade-intl/index.html
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