A willingness to kill elephants as a management tool in North West's Madikwe Nature Reserve suggests a shift in South Africa's conservation approach. What was once a last resort may be becoming standard practice.

It's been a bad few years for South Africa's elephants. Pressure is mounting, with growing talk of "too many elephants", plans to move or cull populations and renewed interest in hunting as a management tool.

There are also rumblings in Kruger Park about reducing poaching by feeding boundary communities elephant meat. And, after many years, there are moves to allocate a hunt quota.

To understand where this may be heading, Madikwe Nature Reserve in North West is a good place to start.

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There's a sentence buried deep in Madikwe's own official Elephant Management Plan (EMP) that should stop everything now unfolding in the reserve. Culling, it says, is a last resort: not a tool of convenience, not an economic opportunity, and not a short cut to be used before all other options have failed. It reads:

"Culling is the last option where translocation, contraception and even range manipulation have been considered and failed.

The EMP was approved by the minister in March 2023.

Culling not authorised

The EMP is also unambiguous about authorisation: "The plan does not authorise the carrying out of any restricted activities involving the elephant. Prior to carrying out any restricted activities involving elephants, the...