아프리카 '짐봐봬'의 '무가페' 대통령이 북한에 선물로 보내려고하는, 생후 18개월된 아기 코끼리들 때문에 동물 해호가협회에서는 발끈 하고 반대 의사를 펴고 있다고 한다. 아기 코끼리는 엄마 코끼리와 같이 비행기를 타고 가지 않으면 수송도중에 죽게 될것이라고 그이유를 설명한다. 현재 아기 코끼리는 다른 동물들과 함께 짐바봬의 국립 Hwange공원의 우리안에서 보호되고 있다고 한다. 무가페 대통령은 북한과는 오랜 동맹국 관계를 맺어 오고 있다. 1980년도에도 무가페 대통령은 한쌍의 Rhino를, (수컷은 Zimbo, 암컷은 Zimba) 북한에 선물로 보냈었으나, 그곳에 도착한지 몇개월 안되여 모두 사망하고 말았었다. 같은 시기에 또 다른 짐바봬산 Rhinos를 당시 유고슬라비아의 수도 벨그레이드에 선물로 보냈었으나, 이역시 추운 지방에 적응하지못해 사망하고 말았었다. 지난달에 짐바봬 정부는 북한 월드컵축구팀이, 6월 11일 남아공에서 열리기전, 짐바봬에서 연습을 할수 있도록 초청 했었으나, 이를 반대하는 구룹들이 데모를 벌렸었다. 1980년대에, 무가페 대통령에 충성을 바치는 짐바봬 군인들이 북한에서 훈련을 받고 와서 ,짐바봬의 Hwange 공원이 있는 서쪽 지방에서, 당시 무가페 정부를 반대하는 반군을 물리치고, 민간인 수천명을 학살 하기도 했었다. Zimbabwe plan to send baby elephants to North Korea raises alarm The 18-month-old calves intended as a gift from President Robert Mugabe are unlikely to survive the flight without their mothers, warn conservationists who are trying to stop the transfer. By Angus Shaw, Associated Press May 15, 2010 Reporting from Harare, Zimbabwe Two baby elephants intended as a gift to North Korea are unlikely to survive the journey by air, Zimbabwean conservationists said Thursday. The independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said the 18-month-old elephants were being held in pens in western Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, along with pairs of most of the park's other animal species bound for North Korea. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is a longtime ally of the North Korean government. ≫ Don't miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox. Johnny Rodrigues, head of the task force, said elephant experts do not think the calves will survive the trip separated from their mothers. No comment was immediately available from Zimbabwe's state parks and wildlife department. Rodrigues, whose task force is an alliance of conservation groups, said all the animals — including zebras, giraffes and a range of antelopes — were captured on the president's order to be given to North Korea, according to witnesses and officials in the park. Witnesses reported seeing capture-and-spotting teams, government vehicles towing cages, and armed men at key watering holes with radios to call in the capture teams, Rodrigues said. The animals were being kept in quarantine in holding pens at the park's Umtshibi camp. Rodrigues said officials in the parks and wildlife department opposed to the captures leaked details to conservationists. They reported that some areas of the 5,500-square-mile Hwange National Park, the biggest in Zimbabwe, had been closed to tourists and photographic safari groups. "We fear a pair of endangered rhino in Hwange will also be included," Rodrigues said. He said conservation groups were trying to find out from civil aviation authorities when the airlift will begin and were lobbying for support from international animal welfare groups to stop it. Zoo conditions in isolated North Korea do not meet international standards, he said. Two rhinos, a male known as Zimbo and a female called Zimba, given by Mugabe to North Korea in the 1980s died a few months after their relocation. About the same time, other Zimbabwean rhinos given to the Belgrade zoo in what was then Yugoslavia died after contracting foot rot in damp and snowy winter conditions there. "This new exercise has to be stopped. People under orders to do it are too scared to speak out," Rodrigues said. Last month, the Zimbabwean government said the North Korean soccer team was headed to a training camp in the country ahead of the FIFA World Cup in neighboring South Africa, which starts June 11. Opposition groups vowed to demonstrate against their presence. In the 1980s, troops loyal to Mugabe trained by North Koreans crushed an armed rebellion in the western province of Matabeleland North, where Hwange is located, and massacred tens of thousands of civilians. The North Korean team's visit to Zimbabwe was in doubt. North Korean soccer officials refused to confirm its itinerary when the team left for training in Switzerland on May 8.