Zimbabwe orders cull of 200 elephants amid food shortages from drought

Zimbabwe
will
cull
200
elephants
as
it
faces
an
unprecedented
drought
that
has
led
to
food
shortages,
a
move
that
tackle
a
ballooning
population
of
the
animals,
the
country’s
wildlife
authority
has
said.

Zimbabwe
had
“more
elephants
than
it
needed”,
the
environment
minister
said
in
parliament
on
Wednesday,
adding
that
the
government
had
instructed
the
Zimbabwe
Parks
and Wildlife Authority
(ZimParks)
to
begin
the
culling
process.

The
200
elephants
would
be
hunted
in
areas
where
they
had
clashed
with
humans,
including
Hwange,
home
of
Zimbabwe’s
largest
natural
reserve,
said
the
director
general
of
ZimParks,
Fulton
Mangwanya.

Zimbabwe’s
environment
minister,
Sithembiso
Nyoni,
told
Voice
of
America:
“We
are
having
a
discussion
with
ZimParks
and
some
communities
to
do
like
what Namibia has
done,
so
that
we
can
cull
the
elephants
and
mobilise
the
women
to
maybe
dry
the
meat,
package
it,
and
ensure
that
it
gets
to
some
communities
that
need
the
protein.”

More
than
160
elephants
die
in
Zimbabwe,
with
many
more
at
risk

Zimbabwe
is
home
to
an
estimated
100,000
elephants
–
the
second-biggest
population
in
the
world
after
Botswana.

Due
to
conservation
efforts,
Hwange
is
home
to
65,000
of
the
animals,
more
than
four
times
its
capacity,
according
to
ZimParks.
Zimbabwe
last
culled
elephants
in
1988.

Neighbouring
Namibia
said
this
month
that
it
had
already
killed
160
wildlife
animals
in
a
planned
cull
of
more
than
700,
including
83
elephants,
to
cope
with
its
worst
drought
in
decades.

Zimbabwe
and
Namibia
are
among
a
swathe
of
countries
in
southern Africa that
have
declared
a
state
of
emergency
because
of
drought.

About
42%
of
Zimbabweans
live
in
poverty,
according
to
UN
estimates,
and
authorities
say
about
6
million
will
require
food
assistance
during
the
November
to
March
lean
season,
when
food
is
scarcest.

The
move
to
hunt
the
elephants
for
food
was
criticised
by
some,
not
least
because
the
animals
are
a
major
draw
for
tourists.

“Government
must
have
more
sustainable
eco-friendly
methods
to
dealing
with
drought
without
affecting
tourism,”
said
Farai
Maguwu,
director
of
the
nonprofit
Centre
for
Natural
Resource
Governance.

Elephants
on
the
march
across
African
borders
as
fatalities
are
on
the
rise

“They
risk
turning
away
tourists
on
ethical
grounds.
The
elephants
are
more
profitable
alive
than
dead,”
he
said.

“We
have
shown
that
we
are
poor
custodians
of
natural
resources
and
our
appetite
for
ill-gotten
wealth
knows
no
bounds,
so
this
must
be
stopped
because
it
is
unethical.”

But
Chris
Brown,
a
conservationist
and
CEO
of
the
Namibian
Chamber
of
Environment,
said
elephants
had
a
“devastating
effect
on
habitat
if
they
are
allowed
to
increase
continually,
exponentially”.

“They
really
damage
ecosystems
and
habitats,
and
they
have
a
huge
impact
on
other
species
which
are
less
iconic
and
therefore
matter
less
in
the
eyes
of
the
Eurocentric,
urban
armchair
conservation
people,”
he
said.

“Those
species
matter
as
much
as
elephants.”

Namibia’s
cull
of
elephants
has
been
condemned
by
conservationists
and
the
animal
rights
group
Peta
as
shortsighted,
cruel
and
ineffective.

But
the
government
said
the
83
to
be
culled
would
be
only
a
small
fraction
of
the
estimated
20,000
elephants
in
the
arid
country,
and
would
relieve
pressure
on
grazing
and
water
supplies.