In 2011, there were an estimated 20,000 elephants in Mozambique, but by 2014 the country had lost 40 per cent of the species.
South Africans will offer 100 elephants this year to Mozambique, a country heavily affected by poaching of a wildlife species threatened with extinction.
The relocation operation will begin in June and last about four months.
The elephants, offered by private entities and the Kruger National Park, come from various parts of South Africa, and will be distributed among the national parks of Bazaruto, Banhine and Limpopo.
All of this happens at a time when Mozambique still see a high number of elephants lost to poaching. In 2017 alone, the country lost 188 pachyderms.
Bartolomeu Soto, from Mozambique’s Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development, says that most of the deaths occur in northern Mozambique, namely the Quirimbas Park and the Niassa Reserve, where poachers come mainly from Tanzania and are considered particularly difficult to capture.
Elephants are slaughtered for their ivory tusks, which are mainly destined for Asia, where they sell for very high prices.
Source: Voa Portugues
