As for the trophy shipping problem we told you about last month, Peake had some good news to pass along. Seems Veterinary Authorities in Botswana gave the green light to resume trophy shipping on November 30. As this issue went to press around 70 percent of 2007 trophies had left the country. The rest were being readied for shipping.
The hold-up in shipping, you'll recall, was due to an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in Botswana. Apparently, there are still scattered reports of the disease in areas of western Botswana, so there is some short-term ambiguity about future shipments. She invited anyone with questions about their trophies to get in touch with her.
Finally, Peake had some news to pass along about 2007 ivory weights. She writes: Ivory tusk weights in Botswana just get better and better. They are doing so despite the fact that our elephant quota has increased from 33 to 270 since 1996. A total of 254 elephant trophies were taken on the sport hunting quota during the year, with an average combined tusk weight of 48.76 kgs (108 lbs), showing an increase of over one kg (2.2 lbs) on last years' average. The majority of these tusks fall........(continued)
