The uproar over the transfer of wildlife from Hwange National Park to North Korea continues to pit conservationists against the Zimbabwean government.

The Sunday Times reported last week that President Robert Mugabe ordered wildlife officials to capture pairs of giraffes, zebras, antelopes, hyenas, monkeys and birds to be sent to North Korea. Two young elephants are already being held in quarantine in the game park.

Zimbabwean authorities defended the action, saying that veterinary experts sent to North Korea were satisfied with the conditions in the zoos.

Vitalis Chadenga, head of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA), said that the deal was a ''legitimate business trade", with Pyongyang paying for the capturing and transporting of the animals.

However, conservationists, led by Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), slammed the plan. They fear that many of the animals will not survive the long journey, let alone conditions in the impoverished communist state's zoos.

In a telephone interview, Chadenga said the animals had already been paid for.

"The North Koreans paid for these animal species. This is a business deal, and we have an obligation to meet our side of the deal. For instance, the two baby elephants were sold for US$10000 each. From the sale of the other animals, we might raise the other US$10000."

He dismissed concerns over conditions in Korean zoos.

"The North Koreans paid to facilitate a trip of our officers to determine the conditions in that country. On their return, they gave us a satisfactory report, and that is when the capturing of these animals started."

He said Zimbabwe had an over-population of elephants . "We have more than 100000 elephants in our national parks. We will sell them to anyone if they approach us ."

Recently, Zimbabwe and other African countries failed to convince the Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species to lift an ivory trade ban.