Why are conservationists alarmed about Botswana’s biggest elephant hunt?

Al JazeeraCenterEN 5 min read 100% complete by Usaid SiddiquiDecember 11, 2025 at 09:27 AM

AI Summary

long article 5 min

Conservationists are concerned about Botswana's decision to increase its annual elephant trophy-hunting quota. Botswana, home to approximately one-third of Africa's elephants (over 130,000), lifted a hunting moratorium in 2019 to manage the growing elephant population and generate revenue for rural communities. A preliminary government draft indicates the 2026 quota will increase to 430 elephants, up from 410 in 2025. Critics, including the Elephant Protection Society, argue the increased quota is too high, potentially harming elephant populations and worsening human-wildlife conflict. The government defends the practice as necessary for population control and economic benefit, while conservationists advocate for a reevaluation of the policy.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Elephant Protection Society (EPS) 40% African continent 50% Okavango Delta 60% Botswana ×480%

Keywords

elephant hunting 100% botswana 90% conservation 80% trophy hunting 80% elephant population 70% hunting quota 60% human-wildlife conflict 60% wildlife management 50% revenue generation 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.30

Source Transparency

Source

Al Jazeera

Political Lean

Center (0.00)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Botswana

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

elephant hunting botswana conservation trophy hunting elephant population hunting quota human-wildlife conflict wildlife management revenue generation

Explore Full Topic Graph