The world鈥檚 biggest elephant relocation programme begins on Thursday, with the movement of 40 animals from the Kruger National Park in South Africa to an area just over the border in Mozambique. Ultimately, the plan is to relocate 1000 elephants over three years.
The pressure exerted on habitat by the Kruger鈥檚 rapidly expanding 9000-strong population would have meant culling 1000 animals over the next five years. Instead, they will repopulate an area that lost most of its herds during Mozambique鈥檚 civil war.
The move is also part of a plan to create a borderless, 21,600 square kilometre, wildlife park. This will encompass the Kruger, a similar area in Mozambique, and Zimbabwe鈥檚 Gonarezhou Park, in April 2002.
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Using relocation to manage elephant populations, rather than culling, is becoming increasingly popular, says Will Travers, of the Born Free Foundation, based in the UK.
鈥淚n numerical terms, this is the biggest relocation to date, but it probably won鈥檛 stay that way for long,鈥� he says. 鈥淭ranslocation as a management option, rather than culling, is going to be increasingly used.鈥�
Fertility control
Wildlife officers in the Kruger National Park will dart the elephants with anaesthetic. They will then be moved into custom-made crates, revived with an antidote to the anaesthetic, and loaded onto trucks for the journey.
Although there are occasional fatalities, on the whole, elephant relocation programmes have been a success, Travers says. The Born Free Foundation has been involved in several relocation programmes in Kenya.
鈥淭he post-release monitoring with radio collars that has been done suggests that they respond well to it,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd there is no reason to think the South African relocation will be anything other than successful.鈥�
However, Travers thinks a better solution to habitat pressure in the long term, is fertility control, not relocation. Elephant contraceptives are currently being tested in South Africa, Kenya, India and Thailand.