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Elephants in Namibia
Photo: Donna Bryson / AP
In order to reduce the number of elephants in Namibia, the South African country wanted to sell 170 of the animals - but only a good third were auctioned off.
As the environment ministry announced on Wednesday, buyers have been found for 57 of the elephants offered for sale in December.
The government took in the equivalent of a good 340,000 euros.
15 of the elephants sold are said to remain in private ownership in Namibia.
The 42 others will leave the country.
The government in Windhoek did not provide any information about the countries to which the elephants were exported.
It is estimated that around 28,000 elephants live in the wild in Namibia.
They are currently suffering from a drought and are increasingly coming into conflict with humans in their search for food.
The elephants are particularly dangerous for villagers when they trample over their fields and attack people in individual cases.
"Increasing clashes between humans and animals"
When announcing the auction, the government pointed out, among other things, the "increasing clashes between humans and animals."
Before the auction, Namibia had been criticized again and again for giving elephants up for killing.
But the auction also caused "a lot of negative publicity," as the ministry spokesman Romeo Muyunda said to justify the low sales success.
mjm / AFP