Can you explain the argument for culling – organized killing of animals within a burgeoning population?
Culling is a specific subtopic in a larger issue, which is that elephants are not being persecuted all over Africa. They are being poached in countries where there is tremendous civil conflict going on, as in the Democratic Republic of Congo where 5 million people have died since 1988 in what appears to be never-ending warfare. Elephants that are poached for their ivory in the Congo are the collateral damage of this huge humanitarian tragedy. That being said, those decreases (in elephant populations) are being offset by the impressive increases in southern African countries such as Namibia, Botswana (and) Zimbabwe. These well-managed populations are increasing beyond the caring capacity of the habitat. So, reluctantly, park officials have decided we can’t take culling off the list of management tools to keep (elephant populations) under control. One view of the ivory trade suggests, if you sell the stockpiles, countries and buyers get used to the cash flow and product availability. Wha
