Elephant culling is not part of government strategies of addressing rising concerns over human deaths caused by the jumbos, says the minister of environment and tourism, Philda Kereng.
Just recently, a night out with colleagues ended tragically for a Kasane wildlife officer when he was trampled to death by an elephant in Kasane. The incident was by no means an isolated occurrence as countless similar others have in the past been experienced by the general public.
Despite this, yesterday minister Kereng told the ongoing 15th meeting of the Ntlo Ya Dikgosi that the decision not to resort to culling the elephants is for the local communities in the wildlife management areas to utilise the elephants to generate tangible benefits for everyone.
The minister was responding to a question from Kgosi Mosojane of North East who had asked her if the government was considering culling as part of its elephant management strategy. She said the ministry has an elephant management and action plan that outlines the strategy of managing elephant and culling was not one of them.
