Opening the Ivory Door

On the parched outskirts of Hwange National Park in western Zimbabwe, Mabale villagers were screaming epithets, flailing arms and legs, and beating drums and pots, creating an unearthly din. This wasn't some ritualistic African dance--the villagers were trying to intimidate a herd of elephants. The same elephants that create awe in the American tourists visiting southern Africa also cause massive property and crop damage in rural Zimbabwe, and hundreds of injuries each year. In the Mabele village, the brave counter-offensive failed, and the elephants' visit left a legacy of collapsed fences, destroyed huts and ruined gardens in an already impoverished community. In other parts of the country, elephants have broken dams and pipelines, leveled forests and orchards, and degraded waterholes and riverbeds.

There are 70,000 elephants roaming Zimbabwe, a country the size of California. From 1991 to 1996, 368 people were killed by rogue elephants there. The situation, when combined with the lure of fast money in the highly-restricted ivory trade, could be expected to result in rampant poaching. But it's not happening.

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