Birth control scheme hailed a success

The introduction of a trial contraception vaccine into elephant populations in South Africa has been declared a success, and wildlife conservationists now believe it is likely to become the way to control the increasing numbers of elephants in South Africa.

The vaccination is considered to be the 'least disruptive' way of limiting the fertility of the South African elephant population - which is currently around 20,000 - and means that culling the animals is not necessary.

For the last five years, wildlife experts in the Tembe Elephant Park, on the border of Mozambique, have been firing contraceptives into the female elephants from the air, resulting in the halving of the number of calves being born.

Tembe Elephant Park was the first public park to start using the birth control method and is one of 12 reserves in the country now using it.

However, the programme has not won the support of everyone. Some scientists suggest the programme is not feasible in large-scale parks and that the elephant numbers problem is an artificial one.