87 Elephants Killed by Poachers in Africa’s ‘Last Safe Haven’
Experts explain how the slaughter could happen in Botswana, which may no longer be the refuge it’s long been thought of.
At least 87 elephants have been killed for their ivory in Botswana in recent months, according to the conservation nonprofit Elephants Without Borders, which discovered the carcasses. It’s a sharp and disturbing increase in poaching for a country that has been considered elephants’ last stronghold in Africa, says Mike Chase, the organization’s director.
“It came as a complete shock that we were discovering elephants that were poached deep within Botswana, within some world-renowned tourist concessions,” he says. “It was completely unexpected.”
Elephants Without Borders was conducting aerial surveys for the Botswana government when observers began noticing carcasses around the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage region far from the Namibian and Zimbabwean borders where poaching incidents have occurred more commonly in
