INTRO

The elephant is a protected species, but in some parts of Africa there is an overpopulation problem. In Kruger National park in South Africa countless elephants over the last decade have simply been shot to reduce numbers. But since the first free elections two years ago, there's been tough criticism of this method of population control. This year, for the first time, elephants have not been shot, but their numbers keep on increasing. The new way of solving the problem is Elephant relocation. The South Africans simply freight surplus elephants to other reserves.

TEXT

1:02

Big game hunting in Kruger National Park - not with real ammunition but with anaesthitising darts. Ten elephants being captured by this method and will then be taken to another park.

1:12

Elephants from the same family are measured. Blood samples are taken, and their details recorded. The anaesthetic is powerful, and the animals are deeply asleep.

SNORING

1:27

Everything must move quickly and everyone has to lend a hand. The most famous park in southern Africa has too many elephants. For years, the surplus has been shot.

Sound bite: Fritz Rohr, National Parks Board (german)

"We've got the high elephant population density in Africa. It's amazing the damage they do to nature. They are the only animals that destroy their own living space."

1:55

And its because of this that whole herds must leave the park. There's an excess of more than 1 '000 elephants in Kruger Park over the ideal number. After the elephants have been loaded into the truck, they're woken up with an injection. Within three minutes they're back on their feet.

2:22

A special truck for elephants is waiting for the remaining, slumbering elephants. Within three hours all of them are loaded. The sun isn't too strong and the sensitive skin of the elephants won't dry out too much. A team of 30 game wardens and park workers are trying to make the elephants journey as comfortable as possible.

2:48

sound bite: Cobus Raath, vet (english)

"The reason why Kruger National Park stopped the culling is that for 27 years now we've been following the same programme and we felt this was a good time to sit back and go through our results and research that we had done up to now and make sure we are on the right track. There's no reason to believe that we're never going to cull again, or we're not going to cull next year. It all depends on what comes out of this."

Music up

3:17

The scene was like this every year. Hundreds of elephants driven into this narrow area. Sharp shooters waiting nearby.

3:28

The dead elephants were immediately processed. The leather sold, the flesh made into goulash and shared amongst the gamekeepers. The profits were ploughed back into the parks finances.

3:46

The biggest treasure however lies in this building. The door can only be opened by three gamekeepers, each holding different keys. The 3'000 tusks stored inside are worth about 10 million Swiss francs, according to 1989 prices. Today's value is much higher.

4.05

After 15 hours of night time travel the elephants finally reach their new home. Marakeli National Park, near Botswana.

4:15

The first elephant nervously leaves the truck.

4:25

But by the following morning the elephants have calmed down. They keep a respectful distance from the electric fences. The 40 elephants have get used to their new surroundings. There's less space for them to wander here than in the Kruger National Park, but here at least they can survive. ends.