Zimbabwe to cull 200 elephants to tackle drought-affected population hunger

Zimbabwe to cull 200 elephants to tackle food shortages caused by the worst drought in decades in southern Africathe authority responsible for wildlife announced on Friday, following the example of Namibia.

The country has “more elephants than needed”said the minister of Zimbabwe Environment on Wednesday in Parliament, adding that he ordered the ZimParks Parks and Wildlife Authority to carry out the selective slaughter.

The 200 elephants will be hunted in Hwange Nature Reservethe largest in the country, ZimParks’ general manager told AFP, Fulton Mangwanya.

It is estimated that Zimbabwe has some 100,000 elephantsthe second largest population in the world after Botswana.

Zimbabwe to cull 200 elephants to tackle food shortage

ZimParks claims there are 65,000 of these mammals in Hwange alone, four times more than the park can accommodate.

At the beginning of September, Namibia announced that he started to slaughtering more than 700 wild animals — including 83 elephants — to feed people who are starving as a result of the worst drought in decades.

The aim was not only to provide meat to thousands of people, but also to relieve pressure on water resources depleted by drought, the government said.

So much Namibia as Zimbabwe are among the countries of southern Africa who have declared a state of emergency due to the drought.

He World Wildlife Fund (WWF) He estimates that there are only a few left 415,000 elephants on the continent (against the 3-5 million from the beginning of the 20th century).

Asian and African elephants are considered endangered, except for the populations of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwewhich are considered only “vulnerable”.