South African Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk announced on the 25th of February that the National Norms and Standards for Elephant Management Elephant will contain culling in it\'s toolbox. Since 2004, when SANParks attempted to overturn the moratorium on killing elephants en-masse, Animal Rights Africa (ARA - http://www.animalrightsafrica.org ) has laboured to ensure that culling was not a so-called \'tool\' allowed in the toolbox of managers of private, provincial and national conservation areas that contain populations of elephants. We were largely responsible for forcing the South African government to engage with stakeholders in the first place. We were also largely responsible for the idea of holding scientific round tables in relation to elephant management. We have opposed the option of culling from the outset, basing our stance on ethical, scientific and historical considerations, and to date, neither the Minister nor any of the pro-culling lobby has been able to produce one shred of evidence to show that there is an ethically or ecologically defensible reason to kill even one elephant in South Africa. The fact is that the formulation of the government\'s policy on elephant management, specifically with regard to culling, has been driven by a chauvinistic, rampant utilization mindset that is deeply rooted in colonialism and apartheid, disregards the inherent value of each individual elephant and has commodified them into unfeeling units purely to be assessed for their recreational and economic value. ACT NOW! Sign our petition to urge the Minister of Environmental Affairs (Martinus Van Schalkwyk) to remove Culling as an option in the National Norms and Standards for Elephant Management (NNSEM). We encourage you to write letters to Minister Van Schalkwyk and urge the South Africa government to ban the practice of culling elephants and to remove it as an option from their National Norms and Standards for the Management of Elephants in South Africa. Please fax your letters to: +27 (0)21 465 3216 or Email to: ministry@deat.gov.za .

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