Zimbabwe plans to cull 200 elephants to provide food for communities facing acute hunger following the worst drought in four decades, wildlife authorities announced Tuesday.
Tinashe Farawo, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (Zimparks), confirmed the plan to Reuters. “We can confirm that we are planning to cull about 200 elephants across the country. We are working on modalities on how we are going to do it,” Farawo stated.
The El Nino-induced drought has devastated crops across southern Africa, affecting 68 million people and causing widespread food shortages.
The cull, Zimbabwe’s first since 1988, will take place in Hwange, Mbire, Tsholotsho, and Chiredzi districts. Elephant meat from the cull will be distributed to drought-affected communities.
This decision follows Namibia’s recent move to cull 83 elephants and distribute the meat to people impacted by the drought.
Zimbabwe is part of a five-country conservation area in southern Africa that is home to over 200,000 elephants, one of the largest elephant populations worldwide. Farawo noted that the cull is also part of efforts to manage Zimbabwe’s elephant population, which at 84,000 exceeds the country’s sustainable capacity of 55,000.
The severe drought has increased the potential for human-wildlife conflicts as resources become scarcer. Last year, 50 people in Zimbabwe lost their lives to elephant attacks.
Despite its growing elephant population and conservation efforts, Zimbabwe has been lobbying the U.N.’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to reopen trade of ivory and live elephants. The country currently holds approximately $600,000 worth of ivory stockpiles that it cannot sell under current regulations.
