The Zimbabwean government has given the order for the slaughtering of 200 elephants to feed hungry citizens.
Tinashe Farawo, a spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority had made this announcement on Monday, while lamenting about the surging cases of elephant-human conflict even while the food insecurity lingered – a crises caused by severe drought in the East African country.
According to local media reports, over 30 persons have been killed in different wildlife-human conflicts in Zimbabwe in 2024 alone.
Farawo had additionally, said that the development had come as apart of the country’s efforts to decongest its parks, which at the moment, can only sustain 55,000 elephants.
Note that Zimbabwe is home to over 84,000 elephants.
The United Nations (UN) had estimated that over seven million people were at risk of acute hunger in Zimbabwe, declaring it as one of the hunger hotspots.
A UN statement from early August read,
“A new report from the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) reveals that food insecurity levels in Zimbabwe are rapidly deteriorating after it was hit with historic droughts due to the El Niño weather pattern.”
Zimbabwe’s proposed culling of elephants is coming weeks after the Namibian government adopted the same measure to fight potential food insecurity and probable wildlife-human conflict as drought bites harder.
