Main content

Should we kill elephants to save them?

You can now hunt the world鈥檚 largest elephant population.

Botswana is home to the world鈥檚 largest population of elephants. And now you can hunt them.

It鈥檚 a fascinating debate which pitches the moral question and knee-jerk reaction against killing endangered animals, against the economic and social reality of having more elephants than anywhere else on earth. Elephants can be very destructive when they encroach onto farmland and move through villages destroying crops and sometimes killing people.

But conservationists are angry. They believe the move is political. It could also damage the country's international reputation for conservation and affect its revenues from tourism, the second largest source of foreign income after diamond mining.

Alastair Leathead is the 成人快手鈥檚 Africa correspondent. He has spent a lot of time in Botswana and is caught up in the story. We got him into the Beyond Today studio to find out whether killing some elephants will save many more.

Producer: Duncan Barber
Mixed by Nicolas Raufast
Editor: John Shields

Release date:

Available now

19 minutes

Upskirting: How one woman fought back and changed the law

Upskirting: How one woman fought back and changed the law

Five things Gina Martin found out about getting her upskirting law passed.

Ten things you might not know about Stacey Dooley

Stacey took a break from Strictly to talk to Beyond Today.

The darker side of apps we all have on our phones

How the apps we all use can have far-reaching consequences for some users.

Don鈥檛 Tell Me The Score

Don鈥檛 Tell Me The Score

Simon Mundie finds out what sport can teach us about life.

Podcast