Scientists and conservationists have handed the Tanzanian Government a global petition with over 500,000 signatures collected since March 2024. The petition calls for an end to trophy hunting of elephants along Tanzania’s border with Kenya in the Tanzania portion of the range.
The petition follows a move by Tanzanian authorities to issue hunting permits for super Tuskers in the Greater Amboseli–West Kilimanjaro elephant population. Five were targeted, hunted, and killed by trophy hunters in Northern Tanzania in the last eight months, with more permits set to be issued.
The consortium sent the petition by courier to the Tanzanian High Commission in Nairobi and to Statehouse Tanzania at a press conference in Nairobi. The petition emphasizes the significant ecological and economic value of the Amboseli–West Kilimanjaro elephant population, a unique genetic reservoir that transcends national borders.
Until 2023, there had been a 30-year period of no elephant hunting incidences reported. The recent hunting wave was triggered by a new quota that was issued in 2022 to Kilombero North Safaris. The last unfortunate tusker hunting incidence had been in 1994 leading to an international outcry when four elephants, subjects of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, were shot by trophy hunters on the Tanzanian side of the border. As a result of public outcry, in 1995, a moratorium on trophy hunting of this trans-boundary elephant population was agreed between the two nations.
The new hunting permits threaten the survival of iconic Kenya-Tanzania cross-border elephants, the largest in Africa. Only 10 elephants with tusks weighing around 45 kg each remain in the Amboseli ecosystem, which has the highest density of these animals. According to the scientists, continued hunting could cause the Super Tuskers to disappear within the next three years.
The petition was backed by a consortium of more than 50 African conservation organizations, calling on Tanzanian authorities to collaborate with their Kenyan counterparts to protect this shared natural heritage.
One of the scientists at the press briefing, Dr. Paula Kahumbu, CEO WildlifeDirect said, “We urge President Ruto of Kenya and President Samia Suluhu of Tanzania to meet and agree on the shared immense scientific and economic value of preserving these cross-border elephants. The long-term benefits of ecotourism, science and conservation far outweigh the short-term gains from trophy hunting in one country.”