[wahnfrieden]

Mainly because moving them to an elephant reserve costs a good amount of money (something like $5000 per, if I recall correctly) and it's cheaper to just shoot them. His hunting trip was probably more expensive than that.

[tptacek]

My understanding is that elephants are being routinely culled on reserves, as well. They eat. A lot.

(I don't mind the downvote at all but it's be good to know if the downvotes connote the fact that I'm wrong; I may be!)

[jemfinch]

A cursory googling for "elephants culled on reserves" shows several stories from reliable sources indicating that you're not mistaken.