It is the western media, in particular British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC), that broke the news about the so-called massacre of 87 elephants in Botswana; something the government of Botswana, distinguished for its shrewd and best world wildlife conservation practices, moved swiftly to verify the authenticity of the news reports.

 

On Wednesday, President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who is in London to attend Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT), went on to sit with BBC to set the record straight in as far as the alleged spike in elephant poaching. Reporter, Mooketsi Mojalemotho captured in part the conversation of Botswana’s first citizen with BBC anchor for African Affairs, Mr Peter Okwoche and this is how it panned out.

 

Peter: Mr President thanks a lot for talking to BBC. We really appreciate your time. We want to talk to you about conservation in your country, in particular recent reports by Elephant Without Borders (EWB) that there has been a big spike in elephant poaching in Botswana. Do you think there has been a spike in elephant poaching in Botswana?

President Masisi: I do not think there has been any spike in poaching in Botswana, but when the story broke out as a responsible government we were concerned, alive and agile and moved with speed and responded accordingly whereupon we instituted a thorough investigation on the matter. Part of our investigation involved the participation of the gentlemen who made the allegations.
Peter: You mean Dr Mike Chase from Elephant Without Borders?

President Masisi: Yes and both officials of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks and Botswana Defence Force embarked on a mission to try and locate the carcasses as alleged, and on the first day they located 10 carcasses, and the second day nine and as far as I have been informed a total of 19 carcasses were found. Out of the 19, very few were proved to be as a result of poaching and quite a number died due to natural causes while some died perhaps as a result of natural anthrax of some sort. Yes there were some that had been poached but most significantly they clearly did not die in a short space of time.

Peter: That is 19 that you have counted. Dr Chase and his group said they counted 87 dead elephants all poached over several weeks. The Department of Wildlife in Botswana surely could not have reached the same number of carcasses as Dr Chase and company because they combed the area in just two days.

President Masisi: Being a researcher he has the capacity of GPS locationing. I think the jury is still out. You know the fundamental thing is that the numbers were so high for Botswana. This is Botswana we are talking about, a country that has no equal in its response to the protection of its wildlife species, a country that has an enviable track record in the management and protection of its species. For 87 elephants to be poached even over a period of few weeks cannot be a small feat. You will have to penetrate successfully multiple layers of security that protect them.
At some point we assumed the report was true, hence we invited the gentleman (Dr Chase) to come along in the search for the carcasses. We invited everybody to go and search including you Peter and show it to us because we are interested to know if there is a heinous crime which has been committed within our borders and we will respond.

Peter: You talk about the expertise that your country has in combating poachers in the conservation of elephants , but you seem to disregard EWB expertise.
President Masisi: Anybody who makes an assertion that such and such occurred is duty bound also to prove it and we have the responsibility to search.

Peter:  Mr President, Dr Chase has a Phd.
President Masisi:  It is not denied that he has a Phd, but that does not necessarily mean he was correct in this particular case. We would want to verify this. What is wrong with that? Mind you there are other experts of superior caliber and experience who have dismissed the authenticity and credibility of such researches. Ethically he was supposed to put his findings into a report and give it to those responsible for it.

Peter:  You talked about hunting poachers in Botswana. Is there a shoot to kill policy in Botswana?
President Masisi: What we have in Botswana is a law that criminalises the use of military weapons within the borders except by our army which is one of the reasons we removed weapons from the Department of Wildlife. We are addicted to the rule of law in Botswana it is a criminal offence to carry any weapon whatsoever without a permit or license.
It is a criminal offence in Botswana to go into a wildlife protected area armed. A poacher is a criminal in the first place. They cross the border illegally and are armed to the teeth and upon encounter with law enforcement agents, they are alerted to get them searched. The general tendency is for poachers to open fire on law enforcement agents to kill. When that happens, our agents in defence of the laws open fire.

Peter: You security agents will fire first is that what you are saying?
President Masisi: No, no, no! It is not shooting on first sight. It is not or you might shoot into the air to alert. Security agents respond as a defence.

Peter: Would you like to see return of elephant hunting in Botswana?
President Masisi:  It is not an issue of what I like, it is a question of what is essential for the country.

Peter: Is it essential?
President Masisi:  It is essential for the country to return to a position where we have sustainable conservation. Right now the numbers that we have given the challenges we have and space and ecosystem. It is not sustainable.
It is not about what I like but to engage the population and stakeholders. Carrying capacity is at 50 000 against the over 150 000 elephants. Majority think time is ripe to hunt elephants for sustainability purposes, but we have to be sensitive to other factors. Ends