Richard Collins: Trophy hunters kill vital education resource

Hunting elephants is more about business than 'controlling' numbers

Male lives matter. Old bull elephants sire more offspring than younger studs. However, it’s not just the females who find ‘sugar-daddies’ irresistible; trophy hunters and ivory poachers target the oldest, most well-endowed, bulls. The bigger the tusks adorning a hunter’s pad, the more they will impress his guests on the dinner-party circuit back home.

Botswana has around 130,000 elephants, more than any other African country. It will allow 400 tusks to be exported this year. Hunting, the politicians claim, is necessary to ‘control’ numbers and protect farm livelihoods. It is also a lucrative business. King Juan Carlos was ‘found out’ when injured during an elephant safari in Botswana. Donald Trump Jr is another enthusiast.