Zimbabwe to cull elephants to tackle drought, food shortages

RFI

15 September 2024 at 7:59 am·1-min read

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

The country has "more elephants than it needed", Zimbabwe's 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 will be hunted in areas where they have clashed with humans, including Hwange, home of Zimbabwe's largest natural reserve, ZimParks director general Fulton Mangwanya told French news agency AFP.

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

Thanks 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 countries carry out cull

Neighbouring Namibia said this month that it had already killed 160 wildlife in a planned cull of more than 700 animals, 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 percent of Zimbabweans live in poverty, according to UN estimates, and authorities say about six million will require food assistance during the November to March lean season, when food is scarcest.

"Those species matter as much as elephants."

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Neighbouring countries carry out cull

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