Botswana faces criticism over plan to cull elephants for independence celebrations

Animal rights activists have criticised Botswana's decision to authorise the killing of 23 elephants to provide meat for independence celebrations.

The southern African country, home to the world's largest elephant population, is holding nationwide festivities on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of independence from Britain.

A licence issued by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, seen by local media, authorises the hunting of 23 elephants and other wild animals for "complimentary purposes".

The Botswana-based Elephant Protection Society warns the decision could undermine conservation, with its chairman Oaitse Nawa telling the BBC elephants needed greater protection.

He warned that slaughtering elephants for celebratory feasting could encourage poaching by creating the impression that killing elephants is acceptable when sanctioned by government.

"Elephants have lost their social structures because they are always being pushed from one place to another by gunshots," Nawa said.

Several social media users in the country have also expressed concerns about eating the game meat amid an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which has prompted authorities to impose measures to contain its spread.

Tshenatshe Monwela, an elder in Maun, a tourism town in north-western Botswana told local media that his community should have received buffalo instead.

He argued that elephants had particular cultural and ecological significance and that Botswana's historic role in protecting the country's wildlife and livestock should have been recognised in the government's allocation of meat for the anniversary celebrations.

Botswana's government has organised a series of events to mark the country's diamond jubilee, including a carnival in the capital, Gaborone, as well as cultural performances, concerts and sporting events.

The game meat is expected to be served as part of the traditional feasting associated with the Independence Day celebrations.

The 23 elephants were allocated in eight districts across the country.

It was not immediately clear how many of the animals had been killed by Wednesday morning. The BBC has asked the government for comment.

But local media published images from different parts of Botswana showing residents gathering around elephant carcasses, some with knives in hand and sharing the meat.

In Chobe, a wildlife-rich district in northern Botswana near the borders with Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, a local MP raised concerns after residents reportedly collected portions directly from a carcass at a school.

He said the system risked creating congestion and disadvantaging elderly people, pregnant women and people with disabilities, and suggested the meat should instead be processed into 5kg or 10kg packages to improve hygiene and ensure fairer distribution.

"For the sake of dignity, fairness and public hygiene, we respectfully call on the hunter and the relevant leadership to ensure that future distributions are properly organised," MP Simasiku Mapulanga posted on Facebook, attaching photos of people scrambling for meat around an elephant carcass.