In many countries around the world, some conservation success can lead to problems. In Africa halting elephant poaching can lead to rocketing populations, which in turn can lead to not enough space and human elephant conflict.
In some places countries have sold the animals that they no longer say they have the space for.
The problem is that many countries are now doing this merely for the money. Namibia has decided to sell 170 elephants. The problem is is that namibia’s resident elephant population is very small, perhaps 5000 to 7000. More than 80% of the elephants in Namibia are migratory, in that they roam in and out of the country. In terms of the resident population, the 170 elephants represents at least 3% of the permanent population.
While selling animals can be a good way of raising money for conservation, reduction of this size is not wise particularly when elephants are not in a good place globally anyway.