How drought kills hundreds of elephants in Kenya

205 elephants have died in Kenya due to lack of water.Drought also creates problems for other African animal species.

• The Horn of Africa is facing the worst drought in 40 years and all Kenyan wildlife is seriously affected.
• Hundreds of elephants, wildebeests and zebras have died in Kenya due to a prolonged absence of water that makes their migrations useless.
• The rainy season promises to be less rainy than usual, so the Kenyan government is thinking of solutions to help the animals.

THE climate changes That they hit Africa and I'm at the center of the Cop27 they don't just affect humans. A prolonged and anomalous drought in Kenya killed 205 elephants and numerous other wild animals between February and October 2022.The African nation and much of East Africa are experiencing the worst drought in 40 years, said Kenyan Tourism Minister Peninah Malonza.The progress achieved in elephant conservation thanks to restrictions on illegal hunting is being undermined byabsence of rain due to climate change of recent years.

Not enough rain coming

Although with the arrival of the winter season Sporadic rain is expected in the Horn of Africa region, the Kenya Meteorological Department predicts below average rainfall for much of the next few months, raising fears that the threat to Kenya's wildlife is not over.Usually a short rainy season occurs in Kenya between November and December, but the warm temperatures in recent months they do not predict a sufficient quantity of water to satisfy the needs of local animals.

Fourteen species were affected by the severe drought:in addition to the 205 dead elephants in the same period 512 wildebeests, 381 common zebras, 12 giraffes and 51 buffaloes also died, many of whom lived in Kenya's national parks which are a major tourist attraction for the country.There were also 49 deaths Grevy's zebra, a rare and endangered species.

Animal crisis in Kenya

Although it is a first step to take losses into account, the figures published by Kenyan bodies are far from complete, ha notified the ministry of Tourism in a report, given that other carnivorous animals may have devoured some of the carcasses.“Therefore there is the possibility of increased mortality,” the ministerial report states.The areas to the north and south of the nation with the capital Nairobi are the most affected by drought and they are also home to the majority of Kenya's elephant population.

In an interview filmed by CNN, Kenya's former tourism secretary Najib Balala said that global warming now kills 20 times more elephants than poaching.There Prolonged drought across the Horn of Africa has left around 18 million people without food and water in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, according to World Food Program reports.Work at COP27 aims to solve climate change problems in the region, but now the crisis affecting animal species it adds to the difficulties faced on the African continent.