Elephant meat will be distributed to communities affected by the drought. The slaughter is the first in the country since 1988.
Around 200 elephants are to be slaughtered in Zimbabwe to feed communities facing famine after the worst drought in 40 years. The plan was confirmed on Tuesday by local wildlife authorities to the Reuters news agency.
“We can confirm that we are planning to slaughter about 200 elephants across the country. We are working out the modalities of how we are going to do it,” Tinashe Farawo, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, told Reuters.
The agency points out that the drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon has destroyed crops in southern Africa, affecting 68 million people and causing food shortages throughout the region.
Elephant meat will therefore be distributed to communities affected by the drought.
According to Reuters, the slaughter is the first in the country since 1988. The same will take place in Hwange, Mbire, Tsholotsho and Chiredzi.
The spokesman also said that the cull is also part of the country's efforts to decongest its parks, which can only support 55,000 elephants. “It's an effort to decongest the parks in the face of drought. The numbers are just a drop in the ocean, because we're talking about 200 (elephants) and we have more than 84,000, which is a lot,” he said.
It should be noted that last month Namibia also decided to slaughter 83 elephants and distribute the meat to people affected by the drought.
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