HARARE (Askume) – Zimbabwe plans to kill 200 elephants to provide food to desperately hungry communities facing its worst drought in four decades, the wildlife agency said on Tuesday.
El Niño-induced drought has devastated crops in southern Africa, affecting 68 million people and leading to food shortages across the region.
“We can confirm that we are planning to kill about 200 elephants across the country. We are working on how we will do it,” Tinashe Farawo, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks), told Askume.
He said the elephant meat would be distributed to drought-affected communities in Zimbabwe.
The killings will be carried out in the districts of Hwange, Mbeere, Cholotsho and Chiredzi, the country’s first since 1988. Neighbouring Namibia last month decided to kill 83 elephants and distribute the meat to people affected by drought.
It is estimated that more than 200,000 elephants live in protected areas in five southern African countries (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Angola and Namibia), making the region home to the largest population of elephants in the world.
Farawo said the killing was also part of efforts to reduce overcrowding in the country’s parks, which can only accommodate about 55,000 elephants. Zimbabwe has more than 84,000 elephants.
“This is an effort to decongest the park in times of drought. These numbers are a drop in the ocean because we are talking about 200 (elephants) and we now have 84,000 elephants, which is a huge number,” he said.
Under such severe droughts, human-wildlife conflicts are likely to increase as resources become scarce. Last year, 50 people were killed in elephant attacks in Zimbabwe.
The country, admired for its conservation efforts and growing elephant numbers, is lobbying the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to reopen the trade in ivory and live elephants.
Zimbabwe, one of the countries with the largest population of elephants, has an estimated $600,000 worth of ivory in stock but it cannot be sold.
