China-Zimbabwe Wildlife Foundation has responded to an earlier report that Zimbabwe exported a variety of wild animals to China in order to pay off military debt, saying the importation of 35 African elephants is a legal commercial activity that aligns with the rules and regulations.

Elephants [Photo: Agencies]

On Monday, The Times reported that Grace Mugabe, the first lady of Zimbabwe, recently sent a menagerie of safari animals to a Chinese wildlife park in order to pay for military uniforms for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Song Li, from the wildlife foundation, said that the elephants are imported by wild animal parks from Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou.

A Chinese man involved in the trade said three Chinese parks signed contracts with the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

The Zimbabwean environmental minister in January inspected the parks in both Shanghai and Hangzhou. The conditions were also evaluated at Guangzhou where other elephants have been kept before. In May this year, experts from Zimbabwe and animal rights NGOs also assessed the three Chinese parks and the trade began. The payment has already been transferred to their account, "it's groundless to have such reports," he said.

China's State Forestry Administration (SFA) also has confirmed that Zimbabwe sent animals to China, adding it was under the legal terms of "a commercial activity". On Wednesday, the SFA said the administration has already approved imports of animals from Zimbabwe and said the imports were in accordance with laws and regulations.

The Embassy of Zimbabwe in China also denied media reports that Zimbabwe had exported a variety of wild animals to pay off some military debts, saying that "Zimbabwe has not exported any game for purposes of settling either military debt or any debt at all."

Hu Chunmei, secretary of the Endangered Species Fund of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, said that China has been importing elephants from Zimbabwe for a long time and such trade is legal.

Countries like India, Spain, and the US have also imported elephants from Zimbabwe, reported the Guardian newspaper.