Nearly 90 elephants found dead near Botswana wildlife sanctuary

Nearly 90 elephants have been found dead, most slaughtered for their tusks, near a famous wildlife sanctuary in Botswana.

Elephants Without Borders said the scale of poaching deaths is the largest seen in Africa and coincides with the country’s anti-poaching unit being disarmed, the BBC reports.

The organisation, which is carrying out an aerial survey, said many of the 87 elephants were poached for their tusks and five white rhinos have also been killed in three months.

The Botswana government disarmed its anti-poaching units in May - a month after President Mokgweetsi Masisi was sworn into office.

"I'm shocked, I'm completely astounded. The scale of elephant poaching is by far the largest I've seen or read about anywhere in Africa to date," Dr Mike Chase from Elephants Without Borders, told the BBC.

"When I compare this to figures and data from the Great Elephant Census, which I conducted in 2015, we are recording double the number of fresh poached elephants than anywhere else in Africa.

Botswana had largely escaped the elephant poaching seen elsewhere in Africa thanks to a reputation for an unforgiving approach to poachers.

The latest poaching was close to the protected Okavango Delta wildlife sanctuary which attracts tourists from around the world.

"The poachers are now turning their guns to Botswana. We have the world's largest elephant population and it's open season for poachers,” said Dr Chase.

Conservationists fear the final figure of poached elephants for the year will only increase and are concerned the problem is being ignored as it is bad for the country’s reputation.