NAIROBI (Reuters) – Conservationists in Tanzania on Monday called for an end to trophy hunting of elephants in a vast game reserve along the border with Kenya.

About 2,000 elephants, including “super tuskers” so called because of their large tusks, roam the game reserve known as Amboseli National Park on the Kenyan side and Enduimet Wildlife Management Area on the Tanzanian side.

Unlike Kenya, where trophy hunting is illegal, sport hunting of elephants for their valuable tusks is permitted in Tanzania and permits are issued for the activity. This has led to cases of hunters killing Kenyan elephants from across the border.

“The loss of these elephants is not only a blow to the elephant population, but also to our collective conservation efforts,” said Cynthia Moss, founder of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants.

The petition from more than 50 African wildlife conservation organizations was supported by 500,000 signatures.

According to conservationists, there are only ten super tuskers left in the Amboseli ecosystem, which has the highest density of these animals, with tusks weighing about 45 kg each.

“The hunt could cause the super tossiers to disappear within the next three years,” the petition states.

In 1995, the two East African neighbors agreed that Tanzania would no longer issue hunting permits on its side of the reserve after hunters on the Tanzanian side killed Kenyan elephants.

However, Tanzania will start issuing permits again from 2022, the petition says.

(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)