Q: Recently, Spain's King Juan Carlos was criticized for going on an expensive elephant hunt in Botswana while his people suffer from an economic crisis. I thought all elephants were on the endangered species list. How many African countries offer elephant hunting?
—William McKee Jr., Flowery Branch
A: Elephant hunting is allowed in Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia, Michael Angelides, the executive officer of the African Professional Hunters Association, told Q&A on the News in an email. The limit on the number of elephants killed in each country a year is dictated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Angelides said. Elephant hunting proponents argue that it's necessary to keep the animals from overpopulating areas and destroying forests. Botswana was home to between 133,000 and 150,000 elephants in 2007 and has the highest person-to-elephant ratio in Africa (14-to-1), according to a Reuters article. Professional guide Mike Cameron, who has led safaris in Botswana, told Reuters: "You can see the total decimation of the forest" around the Chobe National Park in northern Botswana.
Q: I hear Republicans saying that gas was less than $2 a gallon when President Obama took office. Is this true?
—Wendell McBride, Loganville
A: The national average gas price was $1.85 a gallon on Jan. 19, 2009, the day before President Obama's inauguration, according to Consumer Reports. It had fallen from a national high of more than $4 a gallon the previous summer. The average was $4.10 a gallon and was about $4 in Georgia on June 30, 2008. It had dropped to $2.40 a gallon nationally and about $2.37 in Georgia by Nov. 3, the day before the presidential election.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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