Zimbabwe defended its plan to export 27 elephants to zoos in China after it attracted international criticism, saying they will send expert to the zoos to make sure the animals will have suitable living conditions.

According to reports, the proceeds from the sale of the elephants will be used to raise funds for conservation efforts but conservationists have condemned the act because the animals to be exported are wild elephants. Almost 50,000 people signed a petition to stop the "barbaric" plan.

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However, officials noted that the Hwange national park is no longer receiving adequate funding to house the animals, thus the selling of the elephants. There are around 62 wild elephants that were removed from the park since last year and they will be exported to countries such as the United Arab Emirates and France aside from China.

The park has been housing around 43, 000 elephants but it is only made to support 15,000.

According to the director for conservation at the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authorities, Geoffreys Matipano, each elephant could cost them around US$60,000 and the park badly needs to raise US$2.3 million to cover annual costs. The animals will be exported anytime during the first quarter of the year.

Also, exporting these animals is said to be allowed under the wildlife trade convention, according to Tadeous Tafirenyika Chifamba, the ambassador of Zimbabwe to the European Union. The wildlife trade convention says that the export of animals is allowed in condition that injury, damage to health or cruel treatment will be minimized in the course of transporting the animals.

According to the Liberal Democrat MEP, Catherine Bearder, "Separating baby elephants from their herds is cruel and traumatic. Elephants are highly sociable animals and need many years of parental support before they are able to survive away from their herds."

She added that there might be a high possibility that the animals might take out their frustration on tourists in the future. She noted that the Zimbabwean government has to stop their plans on animal trade as soon as possible for the sake of the animals and the tourism industry.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare's Asia regional office also released a statement voicing out its concern regarding this issue and saying there are no animal welfare regulations in China to tell them how the zoos are supposed to operated. The animals that are to be transported "truly belong to the wild" says the office.

TagsZimbabwe, elephant, wild elephants, animal trade, animal export