Permission to sell ivory stockpiles

Botswana’s government is to seek the permission of the UN-sponsored International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to sell more ivory to dispose of its existing stockpiles when the body meets in Kenya this weekend, PANA reported on Monday.

Botswana, said the report, would seek permission to sell the stocks at an annual quota of 12 mt. The country also wants to be allowed to sell hides of some animals classified as endangered to a local industry which will process and export these as finished products.

Botswana is said to have surpassed its holding capacity of the elephant population which numbers 106,000 as opposed to the 50,000 elephants it should have, said the reports.