In order to reduce the number of elephants in Namibia, the South African country wanted to sell 170 of the animals – but only a good third were sold at auction. As the Ministry of the Environment announced on Wednesday, buyers were found for 57 of the elephants offered for sale in December. The government thus raised a good 340,000 euros.
According to the data, 15 of the elephants sold remain privately owned in Namibia. The 42 others will leave the country. However, the government in Windhoek did not specify to which countries the elephants are exported.
It is estimated that around 28,000 elephants live in the wild in Namibia. They are currently suffering from drought and are increasingly coming into conflict with people in their search for food. Especially for villagers, the elephants become a danger when they trample over their fields and attack the people in individual cases.
“Increasing clashes between humans and animals”
In announcing the auction, the government had referred, among other things, to the “increasing clashes between people and animals”. Before the auction, Namibia had been repeatedly criticised for allowing elephants to be killed.
But the auction also caused “a lot of negative publicity”, as the ministry spokesman Romeo Muyunda said to justify the low sales success.
