Zimbabwe said it had accumulated 50 tonnes of ivory.

The country said it will ask the international body
regulating its trade for permission to auction its stocks to fund conservation
of the animals, the head of the country’s wildlife agency said.

The ivory has been confiscated from poachers or recovered as
a result of natural deaths or government-sanctioned elephant culls, officials
said.

Zimbabwe says it needs to raise extra funds to deal with its
burgeoning elephant population, which is about 100,000, one of the largest in
Africa.

Adult elephants consume about 100 to 300 kgs (220 to 660
pounds) of food a day, studies have shown.

Officials say their growing numbers are straining the
impoverished country’s resources and posing a threat to plant life.

Some 30 million dollars is required each year for
conservation of the animals and anti-poaching in Zimbabwe.

But Vitalis Chadenga, director-general of the Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority, told Media that the current budget was “very far
from there”.

“There is a point where our elephant population can get so
much to a point where they self “destruct” and this is happening in some of the
parks,” he said.

In 2008, Zimbabwe was allowed to conduct a one-off sale of
3.9 tonnes of ivory by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

This is the international group that governs trade in plants
and animals.

Plagued by corruption, Zimbabwe provided detailed documents
to CITES showing how the money raised from the sale went directly into
conservation.

Zimbabwe faces an October deadline to make its request to
CITES if it wants to quickly sell the tusks.

However, conservationists worry the sale could fuel demand
for ivory, especially in the fast-growing emerging economic powers of Asia
where it is often used in carved ornaments.

Although elephants are prolific in Zimbabwe, poaching and a
loss of habitat have made them a threatened species in large parts of Africa.

A global ban on the ivory trade was imposed in 1989 and was
widely credited with stemming the relentless slaughter of African elephants in
countries such as Kenya.

Occasional auctions from African government stockpiles have
since been sanctioned.