Botswana officials deny 87 elephant carcasses found

Reuters - Officials from Botswana's Department of Wildlife and National Parks denied on Wednesday (September 19) a report from charity Elephants Without Borders (EWB) stating that they had recently found 87 elephant carcasses in the country. EWB Director, Mike Chase, had earlier said the carcasses were discovered near the Okavango Delta during an aerial survey of the region. Deputy Director of Operations at the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Churchill Collyer, said on Wednesday that they had investigated EWB's claims and only found 19 carcasses, some of which had died of natural causes. Some of the carcasses had been found without tusks because the government is permitted to remove and keep tusks from elephants which died of natural causes, according to officials. Despite the disparity in figures, the government intends to allow EWB to continue its elephant survey of the area.