Botswana is on the brink of a self-inflicted economic crisis as unsustainable elephant hunting accelerates the loss of the country’s most valuable wildlife resource, a new Elephants Without Borders (EWB) report warns.
Despite being home to the world’s largest remaining elephant population, Botswana is losing its high-value bulls at a pace that threatens billions in tourism revenue, rural livelihoods and national income.
Researchers say the country’s elephant management system has entered a period of dangerous biological and economic fragility, driven by a combination of aggressive trophy-hunting quotas, rising poaching, deepening drought and escalating human–elephant conflict.
A Multi-Billion-Pula Loss
The EWB findings estimate that Botswana could already be losing up to BWP 2.5-billion every year due to elephant poaching and unsustainable hunting practices. These losses hit hardest in rural communities that depend on tourism, safari operators who rely on big-tusked elephants to attract visitors, and ultimately the national treasury.
Healthy populations of large-tusked bulls are the backbone of Botswana’s high-end photographic tourism sector — a sector that generates far more revenue than trophy hunting ever could. As these iconic bulls disappear, so too does the economic engine that drives jobs and development across northern Botswana.
Poachers and Hunters Target the Same Bulls — and Botswana Pays the Price
The report reveals that both poachers and trophy hunters are targeting the oldest bulls, the animals that carry the biggest tusks and hold immense tourism value.
“Poachers and trophy hunters are both targeting the same elephants,” says co-author Scott Schlossberg.
“This erodes the population of big bulls and ultimately hurts the hunting industry itself and Botswana’s economy.”
EWB’s data shows that poached elephants are on average 41 years old, compared to 29 years for elephants dying naturally — clear evidence that Botswana’s most economically important animals are being selectively removed.
The consequences are far-reaching:
- Loss of the biggest tuskers reduces Botswana’s appeal to photographic tourists.
- Removal of old bulls weakens elephant social structure and disrupts breeding success.
Younger, smaller bulls are being hunted to fill quotas, further degrading trophy quality.
- The decline in trophy size can last up to 50 years after a poaching outbreak.
Hunting Quotas Rising While Elephant Numbers Fall
Botswana sharply increased its hunting quota from 290 elephants in 2019 to 431 in 2025 — a 48.6% spike. The assumption was that hunting less than 1% of the total population was safe. But the report warns that the key issue is which elephants are removed, not how many.
Removing old bulls — the very animals that anchor Botswana’s tourism brand — is economically devastating.
A Monitoring System That Detects Crisis Too Late
The Department of Wildlife and National Parks currently evaluates population health by measuring tusk sizes of hunted elephants. Scientists warn this method registers declines a decade too late, long after the damage is irreversible.
A Collision Course Between Policy and Science
With poaching increasing and trophy hunting expanding, Botswana is now on a collision course with both ecological science and economic reality. Continuing on the current path, the report concludes, will shrink elephant sizes, erode tourism revenue, and cost the country billions in lost potential.
Botswana’s elephants are not just wildlife. They are national capital — and unless hunting becomes sustainable, that capital is bleeding away faster than the country can afford.