Super Tusker Elephant Killed By Trophy Hunters In Tanzania

Another "super tusker" elephant male from the Amboseli elephant herd was shot and killed in Tanzania's Enduimet Wildlife Management Area.

The death occurred on a hunting expedition organized by Kilombero North Safaris and apparently involved a well-known American trophy hunter from Texas.

Death Of Super Tusker Elephant

This is the third "super tusker" shot killed along the Tanzania-Kenyan border in the last six months.

Super tuskers, or "hundred-pounder" elephants, are male elephants with at least one tusk weighing 100 pounds (45 kilograms). It is thought that there are only 50 left in Africa.

They have a key role in the stability of elephant societies, habitats, and ecosystems.

"It is beyond comprehension that yet another of Africa's iconic 'super tuskers' has fallen victim to the relentless pursuit of trophy hunters, said Dr. Audrey Delsink, elephant behavior expert and wildlife director for Humane Society International Africa.

She further added that the intrinsic value that these bulls provide to elephant society through their genetics as a repository of social knowledge and as environmental keystones is irreplaceable.

Mature bulls are important influences in the population, with considerable implications for the future of younger males.

Stop Elephant Trophy Hunting

ElephantVoices, Big Life Foundation, and the Amboseli Trust for Elephants issued a statement calling for a stop to "elephant trophy hunting in the Enduimet Area of Tanzania."

Elephants are classified in Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species, to which Kenya and Tanzania are signatories. The listing encourages governments to work together to meet conservation and management goals for listed species.

Since 1995, Kenya and Tanzania have agreed to a moratorium on trophy shooting of their cross-border elephant populations. After nearly 30 years, this moratorium was broken when two "super tuskers" were killed south of the border in Tanzania, preparatory to the third killing.

According to studies, as male elephants get older, they devote more of their efforts to reproduction.

Mature bull elephants, such as these "super tuskers," may move twice as quickly and three times as far while they are in musth, a period of intense testosterone-fueled sexual activity.

Thus, the "conscious selection" of older "surplus" males targeted by hunters has a severe impact on elephant society as a whole, perhaps leading to population collapse or long-term population alterations.

The discriminatory removal of these older Amboseli bulls for trophy hunting poses a significant threat to these migratory animals.

Mature elephant bulls serve as role models for adolescent males. The killing of dominant elephant bulls leads to the loss of critical social information and experience from which younger animals can learn.

Without guidance, young bulls may enter dangerous situations and become more aggressive, resulting in physical encounters and injuries and potentially increasing human-wildlife conflict.

"Hunters who claim that older males are "dead wood" are just plain ignorant of the science. Males who are given the chance to live to an old age produce a disproportionate number of offspring, passing their genes to the next generation," said Dr. Joyce Poole, co-founder and Scientific Director of ElephantVoices.

It is said that the elephant's carcass was purposefully burned in order to conceal the atrocity of adding this bull to the already vulnerable "super tusker" elephant population, which is rapidly dwindling.