Why or why not should elephants be culled? Firstly what is an elephant and where do you find them. There are two main species of elephants found in the world today, the African elephant and the Indian elephant. Obviously the African elephant is found only in Africa, but the Indian elephant is found in India and parts of Asia, The African elephant’s gestation period is 22 month (the time is in the womb) The Asian elephant gestation period is between 18-22 months (in the womb) The weight of to 2 elephants The Asian elephant is 5400 kg (5.4 tonnes) The African bush elephant is 6000 kg (6.0 tonnes) The height of the 2 elephants Asian elephant is 2.7 meters African bush elephant is 3.3 meters The population of the 2 elephants African …show more content…
In South Africa and other African countries there have been bans on culling the elephants. Conservation groups who argue that the animals need to be protected are due to pressures brought this on countries, but farmers and gamekeepers say otherwise. The farmers argue that there are plenty of elephants and their numbers are growing rapidly. The elephants are causing problems for the farmersby destroying their crops and breaking frences that release their cattle. Gamekeepers and park rangers argue that with rapidly increasing numbers of wild elephants, that they are actually harming the stocks of other animals this they do by being territorial, over grazing and damaging to large trees in the African bush. Park rangers and government officials are now arguing that the controlled culling of large family groups of elephant will alleviate the pressures on the environment and its animals, they also say the controlled culls will eliminate illegal poaching and the demand for ivory. They say that selling the culled animals tusks will also help fund the elephant …show more content…
He said recently: "Our department has recognised the need to maintain culling as a management option, but has taken steps to ensure that this will be the option of last resort that is acceptable only under strict conditions, he said in a statement. "The issue of population management has been devilishly complex and we would like to think that we have come up with a framework that is acceptable to the majority of Sout Africans." Rob little the director of the WWF in south Africa say that's because theres no natural predators to keep elephant numbers down that the population may grow to 34000 by the year 2020. "All available options must be available to control the elephant population here and conserve the biodiversity of the national parks," said Little. "The new framework imposes a hierarchy of choices, and culling is right at the bottom. We are not going to see a mass destruction of elephants