Botswana has found itself at the centre of a fierce conservation dispute after authorising the killing of 23 elephants to supply game meat for the country's 60th independence anniversary celebrations, a move that animal welfare advocates warn could weaken decades of wildlife protection and normalise the slaughter of a species the nation is famous for sheltering.
The landlocked southern African country, which holds the world's largest elephant population, is marking six decades since gaining independence from Britain with nationwide festivities on Wednesday, including a carnival in the capital Gaborone, cultural performances, concerts and sporting events. As part of the traditional feasting that accompanies such occasions, authorities have arranged for wild game, including the 23 elephants, to be served at community gatherings.
A licence issued by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, which local media reported having seen, permits the hunting of the 23 elephants along with other wild animals for what it describes as "complimentary purposes." The elephants were distributed across eight districts, though it remained unclear by Wednesday morning how many had actually been killed. The BBC said it had approached the government for comment.
The decision has drawn sharp criticism from the Elephant Protection Society, a Botswana-based conservation group. Its chairman, Oaitse Nawa, told the BBC that elephants require stronger safeguards, warning that authorising their slaughter for celebratory meals sends a dangerous signal. He argued that such a decision could embolden poachers by fostering the perception that killing elephants is acceptable when the government itself sanctions it.
Nawa also highlighted the social toll that continued hunting and displacement inflict on the animals. He noted that elephants have lost their social structures because they are constantly being driven from one area to another by gunshots, a remark that points to the broader ecological stress placed on herds that already face pressure from human expansion and habitat fragmentation.
Concerns have not been limited to conservation circles. Some social media users in Botswana questioned the wisdom of consuming the game meat given an ongoing outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which has forced authorities to introduce measures aimed at containing its spread. The unease reflects broader anxiety about food safety and public health at a time when the celebrations are meant to project national pride and unity.
In Maun, a tourism town in north-western Botswana, community elder Tshenatshe Monwela told local media that residents should have received buffalo instead of elephant meat. He contended that elephants carry particular cultural and ecological significance and that the government ought to have acknowledged Botswana's long-standing role in protecting its wildlife and livestock when allocating meat for the anniversary. His comments suggest that for some communities, the choice of animal was as much a symbolic issue as a practical one.
Local media published images from various parts of the country showing residents gathering around elephant carcasses, some holding knives and sharing the meat. In Chobe, a wildlife-rich district in northern Botswana near the borders with Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, an MP voiced concerns after residents reportedly collected portions directly from a carcass at a school. The scenes illustrated both the popularity of game meat in certain communities and the logistical difficulties of distributing it fairly.
The MP, Simasiku Mapulanga, warned that the system risked creating congestion and leaving elderly people, pregnant women and people with disabilities at a disadvantage. In a Facebook post that included photos of people scrambling for meat around an elephant carcass, he suggested the meat should instead be processed into 5kg or 10kg packages to improve hygiene and ensure more equitable 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," he wrote, according to the source material.
Elephant meat is not an everyday staple in Botswana, though it is common in some wildlife-rich communities, particularly when meat from legal hunts is shared locally. The country tightly regulates game meat, and legal possession generally depends on proving the meat came from a lawful hunt. That regulatory framework is central to the government's argument that its hunting programme is controlled and legitimate, even as critics question whether the scale of killing remains sustainable.
The controversy has reignited a long-running and often heated national debate over how Botswana should manage its enormous elephant population, which exceeds 130,000 animals. Communities living alongside the herds have complained for years that elephants destroy crops, damage property and sometimes kill people, creating a persistent human-wildlife conflict that shapes local attitudes toward conservation policy.
The government has defended regulated hunting as a means of managing elephant numbers and reducing conflict with people while generating income for affected communities. Minister of Environment and Tourism Wynter Mmolotsi told parliament last year that special elephant quotas raised 15.6 million pula, equivalent to about $1.1m or £820,000, in 2025 for projects in areas where elephants are found. Officials argue such revenue supports conservation and local development.
Botswana's hunting policies have shifted repeatedly over the past decade. The country banned trophy hunting in 2014 under former President Ian Khama, then lifted the restrictions five years later under his successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi. Hunting has continued under President Duma Boko, who defeated Masisi in elections in 2024, indicating that the practice now enjoys continuity across changes in leadership.
Conservation organisations have questioned whether current hunting levels can be sustained, but supporters of the policy counter that international criticism frequently ignores the burdens shouldered by rural communities living alongside one of the world's largest concentrations of elephants. They point out that elephants destroy crops and infrastructure and endanger residents as their range increasingly overlaps with farms and settlements, arguing that conservation must be balanced against the welfare of people on the front lines of human-wildlife conflict.
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