Mixed feelings about elephant sales

The chairperson of Xhauxhwatubi Trust at Phuduhudu, Omphile Mash Libalamwe,  says she is unhappy that the auction failed to raise even a quarter of their targeted P1.8 million.

The trust, which is located some 100km from Maun, auctioned 22 elephants, and all of them were snapped up, but buyers were not willing to pay more than P5,000 for them. About 10 elephants were sold for P5,000 each, while two fetched P43,000 each. "This is bad, usually they fetch P75,000 each", said the chairperson, adding that some elephants have even fetched P16,000. "It was not a success, we lost a lot of money... it was really, really bad; we hope next year things will be better".