Botswana Faces Backlash Over Plan to Kill 23 Elephants for Independence Day Feasts

Botswana's decision to sanction the killing of 23 elephants to supply meat for its 60th independence anniversary celebrations has drawn sharp criticism from animal rights campaigners, who warn the move could weaken the country's internationally admired conservation record. The southern African nation, which holds the world's largest elephant population, is marking six decades since independence from Britain with festivities across the country on Wednesday, including a carnival in the capital, Gaborone, cultural performances, concerts and sporting events.

A hunting licence issued by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, which local media reported having seen, permits the killing of 23 elephants along with other wild animals for what it describes as "complimentary purposes." The elephants were distributed across eight districts, and the meat is intended to form part of the traditional feasting that accompanies Independence Day commemorations.

The Elephant Protection Society, a Botswana-based advocacy group, has condemned the authorisation, arguing it sends a dangerous signal at a time when the species already faces mounting pressure. The organisation's chairman, Oaitse Nawa, told the BBC that elephants require stronger safeguards rather than being treated as a source of celebratory food. He cautioned that officially sanctioned slaughter could embolden poachers by fostering the perception that killing elephants is acceptable when the government itself approves it.

Nawa also pointed to the broader social and behavioural damage inflicted on elephant herds, saying the animals have lost their social structures because they are constantly being displaced from one area to another by gunshots. His remarks reflect long-standing concerns among conservationists that Botswana's growing elephant population, estimated at more than 130,000, is increasingly being managed through lethal means rather than through coexistence strategies.

The government has defended regulated hunting as a practical tool for managing both elephant numbers and the persistent conflict between wildlife and people. Communities living near elephant habitats have for years complained that the animals destroy crops, damage property and sometimes kill people. Botswana banned trophy hunting in 2014 under then-President Ian Khama, but the restrictions were lifted five years later by his successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, and hunting has continued under President Duma Boko, who defeated Masisi in the 2024 elections.

Authorities argue that revenue from hunting supports conservation work and local development. Minister of Environment and Tourism Wynter Mmolotsi told parliament last year that special elephant quotas generated 15.6 million pula, equivalent to about $1.1m or £820,000, in 2025 for projects in areas where elephants are found. Conservation organisations, however, have questioned whether current hunting levels can be sustained without harming the population over the long term.

The latest controversy has also raised public health concerns. Some social media users in Botswana have expressed unease about eating the game meat amid an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which has prompted authorities to impose measures aimed at containing its spread. Elephant meat is common in some wildlife-rich communities, particularly when meat from legal hunts is distributed locally, but it is not an everyday staple, and Botswana tightly regulates game meat, with legal possession generally dependent on proving it came from a lawful hunt.

Discontent has not been limited to animal welfare groups. 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 carry particular cultural and ecological significance and that Botswana's historic role in protecting wildlife and livestock should have been recognised in how the government allocated meat for the anniversary.

Concerns have likewise emerged over how the meat is being distributed. In Chobe, a wildlife-rich district in northern Botswana near the borders with Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, a local MP raised objections after residents reportedly collected portions directly from a carcass at a school. Simasiku Mapulanga said the arrangement risked creating congestion and leaving elderly people, pregnant women and people with disabilities at a disadvantage. He 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," Mapulanga posted on Facebook, attaching photographs of people scrambling for meat around an elephant carcass. Local media also published images from different parts of the country showing residents gathering around elephant carcasses, some holding knives and sharing the meat.

It was not immediately clear how many of the 23 animals had been killed by Wednesday morning, and the BBC said it had asked the government for comment. The episode has reignited a long-running and often heated debate in Botswana over how the country should manage its enormous elephant population, a question that pits conservation priorities against the grievances of rural communities bearing the costs of living alongside wildlife.

Supporters of Botswana's hunting policy contend that international criticism frequently overlooks those costs. They argue that elephants destroy crops and infrastructure and endanger people, especially as their range increasingly overlaps with farms and settlements. Critics counter that culling animals for a national celebration risks normalising the killing of a species whose protection Botswana has long championed, and that alternative sources of meat could have been found for the festivities.