Under pressure from global animal rights groups, France has shelved its plan to buy 20 live elephants from Zimbabwe, which plans to dispose of over 40,000 “excess” elephants.
Segolene Royal, French minister for ecology, sustainable development and energy, told a meeting of nearly 40 non-governmental organisations in Paris recently that “France would receive no elephant in Zimbabwe as had been suggested by the authorities of that country,” according to French website, Boursier.com. At the meeting, Royal said the country was also banning of raw ivory exports.
A week earlier, the NGOs, led by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, petitioned the French government to boycott the Zimbabwean elephants arguing the trade was illegal and that it traumatises "an intelligent animal."
Geoffreys Matipano of the Parks and Wildlife Authority of Zimbabwe told Bloomberg in December that talks were on to sell 15 to 20 elephants to other countries. Media reports suggest that China was negotiating for 27 animals and the United Arab Emirates 15.
According to official data, Zimbabwe has over 80,000 elephants, half of which is in the Hwange National Park, which has a capacity of 15,000. Depending on age, each animal fetches between US $40,000 and US $60,000.