// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Botswana condemned for slaughtering 23 elephants for independence celebrations
Botswana is home to the world's largest elephant population, with more than 130,000 elephants (file photo)
Animal rights activists have criticised Botswana's decision to authorise the killing of 23 elephants to provide meat for independence celebrations.
The southern African country, home to the world's largest elephant population, is holding nationwide festivities on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of independence from Britain.
A licence issued by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, seen by local media, authorises the hunting of 23 elephants and other wild animals for "complimentary purposes".
The Botswana-based Elephant Protection Society warns the decision could undermine conservation, with its chairman Oaitse Nawa telling the BBC elephants needed greater protection.
He warned that slaughtering elephants for celebratory feasting could encourage poaching by creating the impression that killing elephants is acceptable when sanctioned by government.
"Elephants have lost their social structures because they are always being pushed from one place to another by gunshots," Nawa said.
Several social media users in the country have also expressed concerns about eating the game meat amid an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which has prompted authorities to impose measures to contain its spread.
Tshenatshe Monwela, an elder in Maun, a tourism town in north-western Botswana told local media that his community should have received buffalo instead.
He argued that elephants had particular cultural and ecological significance and that Botswana's historic role in protecting the country's wildlife and livestock should have been recognised in the government's allocation of meat for the anniversary celebrations.