28/02/2008 20:31 - (SA)

Pretoria - Culling of elephants is unwarranted as there is no scientific evidence to demonstrate that the animals are affecting the biodiversity in the Kruger National Park, The Earth Organisation said on Thursday.

It said government's decision to end the moratorium on the culling of elephants in the Kruger Park and elsewhere was based on an "unfounded claim" that there was an elephant overpopulation problem and that management was necessary.

The scientific advisory board of the Earth Organisation said it had evidence that there was no factual general habitat carrying capacity for elephants, damage to flora was inflicted chiefly by lone bulls outside the herd and that many trees in fact needed to be jostled for regeneration.

It also said flora in general recovered from elephant damage within five years and that more lasting damage was being caused by impala.

The organisation said it could prove that elephants returned in greater numbers to areas where culling had taken place.

The position adopted by government was that the profits to be gained from culling, as quantified by the SAN Parks scientists, were preferable to all the cruelty, trauma and losses to the country's image culling would cause, the organisation said.