57 ELEPHANTS SOLD BY NAMIBIA

Namibia announced on Wednesday August 11, 2021 that it had sold a third of the 170 elephants it has put up for sale. This semi-arid and sparsely populated country has nearly 28,000 pachyderms, according to official estimates and the government resorted to the sale after it was criticized for shooting elephants in order to control their overpopulation, under the pressure of the drought. and territorial conflicts with humans.

Namibia's environment ministry said in a statement that it “successfully sold 57 of the 170 elephants that were tendered in December 2020”.

The government raised 5.9 million Namibian dollars (340,000 euros) from this sale. Forty-two elephants will be exported to destinations that have not been disclosed. Environment ministry spokesman Romeo Muyunda attributed the low level of sales to buyers' financial means and conditions of sale.

“It's an auction, so buying and selling is done by chance, there is no guarantee neither for the seller nor for the potential buyers,” he said.

Some potential customers may have backed down because “there has been a lot of negative publicity surrounding this sale,” he added.

Namibia announced on Wednesday that it had sold 57 elephants in an attempt to reduce the population of these mammals under pressure from drought and land disputes with humans. A total of 170 elephants were the subject of a call for tenders launched in December 2020.