Zimbabwe’s government is thinking of approving the mass killing of elephants in order to feed the country’s starving populace caused by the worst drought in decades.
A representative for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, Tinashe Farawo, told CNN on Monday that “we are targeting to cull 200 elephants” since almost half of the nation’s population is at risk of severe famine.
According to Farawo, Zimbabwe is home to about 84,000 elephants, more than twice its “capacity of 45,000,” he continued.
The action is in response to a decision made in Namibia, a neighbour, to slaughter elephants and other wild creatures in order to alleviate food poverty brought on by an extended drought.
The only country with a larger population of elephants worldwide is Botswana, after Zimbabwe.
“Zimbabwe has more elephants than we need and more elephants than our forests can accommodate,” Sithembiso Nyoni, Zimbabwe’s Minister of the Environment, informed lawmakers last week.
Elephant overpopulation, she continued, “causes a lack of resources” for their nourishment, which exacerbates conflict between people and wildlife in the nation.
“We are discussing with Zim Parks (Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority) and some communities to do like what Namibia has done so that we can count the elephants, mobilize the women to maybe dry the meat and package it to ensure that it gets to some communities that need the protein,” Nyoni said.
“When there is an overpopulation of wildlife in a specific park, they will then seek to go outside the park to look for other resources such as water or greenery. When that happens, they will then come into contact with the humans and conflicts begin.”
El Niño, a natural climate pattern that has resulted in very little rainfall in the region since the beginning of the year, is the cause of a severe drought affecting numerous nations in southern Africa, of which Zimbabwe and Namibia are just two.
A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.
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