Elephants have become a hot political issue in Botswana, with President Mokgweetsi Masisi beating the hunting drum, a sure vote-catcher in rural communities. But the country, which has the world’s biggest and most secure elephant population – more than 130,000 – could be staring down the barrels of the poachers’ guns.

For small-scale farmers, elephants can be a danger and a damn nuisance. So when Botswana’s new president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, was looking for rural votes to boost his flagging party in the upcoming elections, calling in the guns was low-hanging fruit. For rural communities, shooting crop raiders, jobs for skinners and a pile of meat the size of an…