17 Jul 2014

Kweneng District has been experiencing an influx of elephants since January 2013, Parliament has been told.

Responding to a question, the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Tshekedi Khama said one elephant was translocated from Kweneng to Nxai Pan in 2013.

Minister Khama indicated that all the other elephants that came into the district in 2014 were driven back to Central Kalahari and Khutse game reserves by the department of wildlife.

He told the house that the Department of Wildlife and National Parks used their resources such as vehicles and manpower, adding that they also requested for assistance from Botswana Defense Force (BDF) and the Police Service when removing elephants from Kweneng District.

“The cost for the exercise is embedded in the funds allocated for human/wildlife conflicts operations,” he said.

He said it is the considered opinion of his ministry that, for now elephants will not be culled but controlled.

The elephant controlled movement, he said will mitigate against disruptive movements to farmers’ lives and damage to property and adopting preventative measure such as chili pepper.

He said the elephants that came to Kweneng District obviously caused damages to fences, crops and some water installations.

He said the Department of Wildlife and National Parks has as of February 2013 to date spent close to P60 000 to compensate for elephants damage to property and crops.

He said a total of P14 208.05 is still to be paid out and 10 elephant’s damage reports are still being assessed. ENDS