LUSAKA, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Zambian Tourism Minister Kabinga Pande Wednesday dismissed claims spreading across Zambian borders that Livingstone in the south of Zambia has been turned into an elephant killing field.

    In a telephone interview with Zambia News and Information Services Pande said that it is international standards for the relevant government agents to put down or kill any wild animal that is dangerous and a threat to human beings.

    The minister said the Zambian government has no direct policy of wantonly killing elephants, but in order to manage a situation such as the Livingstone case, in which three people were killed recently, it demanded that the concerned animals be killed as they smelt human blood and would have continued to kill people.

    Some media in the neighboring countries dubbed Livingstone as the elephant killing field in the wake of killing of three huge elephants by Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) after the elephants killed three people in the area.

    The killing of elephants by ZAWA has also brought divisions in the tourism industry of the country with tour operators complaining that there should be better ways of managing and controlling wild game than killing as it defeats their marketing strategies.

    In some African countries there are too many elephants and people are attacked and plants and houses destroyed by elephants causing residents to demand the government authorities reduce the number of elephants and kill those attacking people and damaging their plants and huts. Enditem