South Africa: Kruger Elephant Deaths - the Question Sanparks Still Hasn't Answered

What happens to elephants that stray from Kruger Park? South African policy needs a rewrite

When an elephant wandered out of South Africa’s Kruger National Park into the nearby village of Matsulu on 10 February 2024, hundreds of people gathered around and chased it. Wildlife officials tried to return the elephant to the park, but in the end had to destroy it. Elephants that leave Kruger National Park are generally treated as “damage-causing animals” under government policy. If an elephant is considered a danger to people, it may be put…

South Africa: Kruger Elephant Deaths - the Question Sanparks Still Hasn't Answered

The debate surrounding 951 elephant deaths in the Kruger National Park has largely become a discussion about conservation science. It should instead be a discussion about public accountability, the ethical limits of state authority over wildlife, and why every deliberate killing of a wild elephant demands individual justification.

South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Elephant Management Proposal Could Put More Than 1,200 Elephants At Risk

Wildlife conservation organizations are raising concerns over a controversial elephant management proposal that could affect more than 1,200 elephants in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. While wildlife officials say relocation remains the preferred option wherever possible, conservation groups warn that culling could still be considered if elephants cannot be relocated and other alternatives are exhausted. The proposal comes as several cou…

The 951 dead elephants in the Kruger Park and a question everyone should be asking

By Adam Cruise - Daily Maverick The grudging release of previously undisclosed mortality data from the Kruger National Park offers a rare glimpse into how elephants are dying. But the numbers reveal something else: how little the public knows about the decisions made in managing one of the world’s most important elephant populations. For more than a century the African elephant has occupied a unique place in South Africa’s conservation imaginati…