Zimbabwe and Namibia will kill 283 elephants to fight hunger

The wave of extreme drought affecting Zimbabwe and Namibia has convinced the authorities to kill hundreds of elephants to feed the population.

The Zimbabwe he made it known that he will kill two hundred elephants.A controversial decision, taken to address the worst drought in decades, which in turn caused a serious food crisis.This was announced on 13 September by the authorities of the African nation, who thus followed what was recently ordered by another nation on the continent: Namibia.

Zimbabwe, the Minister of the Environment:“We have more elephants than we need”

The two pieces of news did not fail to arouse protests.And the justification given by him was of little avail Minister of the Environment of Zimbabwe, who, addressing his parliament, explained that his country would currently have “more elephants than necessary”.And here the decision to appoint the Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) to proceed with the killings.

The latter will be carried out in an area in which the greatest number of "accidents" with the local population has been recorded, i.e. in the nature reserve of Hwange.Here, according to ZimParks, they are present approximately 65 thousand specimens:too many compared to what the park would be able to support.

Elephant population in drastic decline in Africa

To the 200 elephants that will therefore be killed in Zimbabwe are added the 83 for which the same fate is expected in Namibia.And the reason is identical:it is in fact expected to dry, package and distribute the meat of animals animals killed in order to alleviate the situation of hunger in which an important part of the population lives.

However, according to Farai Maguwu, director of the non-governmental organization Natural Resources Management Center, “governments should find more methods sustainable is able to better protect the environment to cope with the wave of drought."On the other hand, the WWF estimates that they only remain 415 thousand specimens of elephants in Africa.A figure in dramatic decline compared to only twenty years ago, when the total was between three and five million.

Climate change will exacerbate droughts and food crises

The life of animals, therefore, comes into direct conflict with the need to provide answers to food crisis.Caused by drought, the waves of which are in turn exacerbated by climate changes of anthropic origin.A nefarious spiral that must be eradicated as soon as possible.Otherwise, say extreme decisions like those of Zimbabwe and Namibia there will be more and more.