{"id":54897,"date":"2019-12-16T10:40:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T02:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=54897"},"modified":"2019-12-16T10:40:37","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T02:40:37","slug":"botswana-bans-hunters-after-killing-of-research-elephant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=54897","title":{"rendered":"Botswana bans hunters after killing of research elephant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2019\/12\/15\/17\/22274226-7794319-image-a-11_1576431101002.jpg\" alt=\"Botswana's government has revoked the licences of two professional hunters who shot dead a research elephant and then destroyed its collar that gave it protected status (stock photo)\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">Botswana&#8217;s government has revoked the licences of two professional hunters who shot dead a research elephant and then destroyed its collar that gave it protected status<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>GABERONE, Dec 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Botswana\u2019s government has revoked the licences of two professional hunters who shot dead a research elephant and then destroyed its collar to try to hide the evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a statement, the environment and tourism ministry said that professional hunters Michael Lee Potter and Kevin Sharp had surrendered their licences after shooting the elephant at the end of last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their nationalities could not be immediately established. Potter was banned for an indefinite period and Sharp for three years. Neither hunter was available for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn addition, the two hunters will replace the destroyed collar,\u201d the ministry said. \u201cThe Ministry will work with the hunting industry to ensure that the necessary ethical standards are upheld.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The shooting recalled the killing of \u2018Cecil the lion\u2019 by an American hunter in neighbouring Zimbabwe in 2015, also an animal that had a research collar and was supposed to be protected. His death provoked outrage on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi sparked global controversy when he lifted a ban on elephant hunting in May. The ban had been installed five years earlier by his predecessor, Ian Khama, an ardent conservationist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Africa\u2019s overall elephant population is declining due to poaching but Botswana, home to almost a third of the continent\u2019s elephants, has seen numbers grow to 130,000 from 80,000 in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Officials in the southern African country say the animals are causing problems for farmers by ripping up their crops, so hunting is necessary to reduce their numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The mostly arid country the size of France has a human population of around 2.3 million, and its expanses of wilderness draw millions of foreign tourists to view its wildlife. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Botswana&#8217;s government has revoked the licences of two professional hunters who shot dead a research elephant and then destroyed its collar that gave it protected status GABERONE, Dec 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Botswana\u2019s government has revoked the licences of two professional hunters who shot dead a research elephant and then destroyed its collar to try to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54897"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}