Zambia has formally decided to open hunting for jumbo this year. The hunting quota has been set at 20. The bad news here is, US clients cannot currently import ivory from this country, and there are no immediate prospects that they will be able to soon. The other bad news is, many Zambian safari operators have come out strongly against the new elephant season. Yes, operators of hunting safaris, not game-viewing safaris. We have just received a document that spells out some of their objections and we are uploading it to our web site (www.huntingreport.com). It is called "Response to the Zambia Wildlife Authority's proposal for Elephant Sport Hunting." Look for it on our home page under "Other Hunting News."
For the record, we support the season, but we do feel the need to warn Europeans and others who might want to book one of these hunts that ivory size in Zambia is quite small. A handful of 40- to 50-pounders may be taken, and who knows a jumbo or two bigger than that the first season. But after that, most jumbo taken will likely be on the small side.
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