Who's The Animal? Horrifying Image Of Elephant With Trunk & Tusks Cut Off Will Break Your Heart

About 2 months ago, Botswana¡¯s Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, in an official statement on their Facebook page declared, ¡®Government of Botswana has taken a decision to lift the hunting suspension.¡¯

The result?

This gut wrenching image of the mutilated body of an elephant has surfaced on the Internet, reminding us the horrors of poaching.

Justin Sullivan

A drone captured this horrifying image of the barbaric death of a full grown elephant, who has supposedly been poached for its tusks. The severed trunk lies next to its body, its face mutilated and tusks gone. The animal was poached after the legalization of hunting of these animals as Botswana suffers from ¡®overpopulation¡¯ of elephants.

Trigger warning: Graphic images, viewer discretion advised.

Justin Sullivan

Poachers allegedly used chainsaws to cut of the majestic beast¡¯s trunk and its tusk and abandoned its carcass somewhere on the plains.

Reportedly there has been an exponential increase in poaching in Botswana with an estimated 593% rise in the number of elephant bodies found between 2014 to 2018.

The drone image was clicked by a documentary filmmaker Justin Sullivan who titled the image Disconnection. The picture has been selected for the prestigious Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest. The results for the contest will be announced in September.

He reportedly said, ¡°They said an elephant had just been poached and I asked to be taken to the site. On arrival I used a drone to capture the image.¡±

Talking about the image he said, ¡°The image is called Disconnection, the perspective of the image gives context to the situation which you would never be able to see from the ground. The high angle looking top down shows isolation and highlights not only the physical disconnection of the animal, but our disconnection from the situation."

He added, ¡°The image has drawn a lot of attention. People have obviously reacted with mixed feelings of anger and sadness, especially with the recent lift on the hunting ban in Botswana. But this photo has driven some constructive dialogue around how we can promote more sustainable elephant conversation and solve our current ecological crisis.¡±

President Mokgweetsi Masisi's lifting of the five-year ban on hunting provoked huge criticism and outcry.

Elephants are killed for their tusks (ivory) which internationally sell for a millions of dollars. However, there is an international ban on the sale of ivory. Countries like Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia with the help of South Africa are appealing to have the ban uplifted. This would allow them to sell stockpiles worth millions of dollars, which according to them, could be sold to further fund conservation.

Overpopulation of animals can be dealt with scientific methods like sterilization, the proposal of killing the ¡®extra¡¯ elephants is preposterous and people have not shied away from reiterating the same.