South Africa to export elephants to Angola

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- South Africa is to export part of its excess elephant population to war-torn Angola, in a move that has been criticized by animal welfare organizations.

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The North West Parks and Tourism Board said it would relocate two family groups of elephants from South Africa's Madikwe Game Reserve to the Quicama National Park in Angola, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the Angolan capital Luanda.

"The objective of this donation by North West Parks and Tourism Board to Angola is to help revitalize the Angolan economy and is in support of the development of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region," a statement from the board said.

It did not say how many elephants were involved.

The elephants were to be captured on Friday and flown to Angola on Saturday.

Much of Angola's wildlife has been wiped out in a brutal 25-year-old civil war between the government and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebel movement.

UNITA killed huge numbers of Angola's elephant and rhino populations in the 1980s, slaying the animals for ivory and horns which were sold with the help of the South African army when the then white-minority government backed UNITA against the Soviet-backed government in Luanda.

Anti-tank mines were sometimes used by poachers to kill elephants in Angola.

Animal welfare activists say with Angola still in a state of civil war and with an unknown number of land mines buried beneath its soil, it may not be possible for the country to guarantee the security of the elephants.

"Obviously one of the concerns is that they are moving them to Angola and we know what the political situation is like there," Jason Bell, a spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), said.

"We know that elephants have been poached to virtual local extinction in most parts of Angola.

"We caution the North West Parks board to ensure that elephants relocated to Angola are taken to areas where the authorities have adequate enforcement resources to prevent poaching," he said.

Relocating elephants from areas where their numbers have become too great for the available habitat is used increasingly as an alternative to culling.

South Africa has about 12,000 elephants. In a number of parks their numbers have reached saturation point.

"We are not opposed in principle to the idea. Moving elephants to areas where they traditionally occurred is a great thing," said Bell. "We just want their security ensured."

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