Environment minister says country has more elephants than it needs while critics of hunt say they are a major tourist drawcard

Environment minister says country has more elephants than it needs while critics of hunt say they are a major tourist drawcard

Zimbabwe will cull 200 elephants as it faces an unprecedented drought that has led to food shortages, a move that tackle a ballooning population of the animals, the country’s wildlife authority has said.

Zimbabwe had “more elephants than it needed”, the environment minister said in parliament on Wednesday, adding that the government had instructed the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) to begin the culling process.

The 200 elephants would be hunted in areas where they had clashed with humans, including Hwange, home of Zimbabwe’s largest natural reserve, said the director general of ZimParks, Fulton Mangwanya.

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Zimbabwe is home to an estimated 100,000 elephants – the second-biggest population in the world after Botswana.

Due to conservation efforts, Hwange is home to 65,000 of the animals, more than four times its capacity, according to ZimParks. Zimbabwe last culled elephants in 1988.

  • @RvTV95XBeoEnglish
    5•4 days ago

    Agreed! I feel like now, while we’re thinking about these very charismatic creatures, might be a good time to remind folks about cattle, who form strong social and familial bonds

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159114003128

    We show that the dam and calf express behaviour suggestive of a strong bond even in the absence of nursing.

    https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/cattle-family-bovidae

    Cattle are naturally social animals and form small herds, the composition of which varies according to the species

    The entire herd not only feeds and moves around as a colossal single unit, but individual animals will also gather around an injured or sick animal if it is threatened by predators

    https://animalequality.org/blog/2024/08/19/dairy-industry-hurts-cows/

    To keep the milk flowing, farmers artificially inseminate her about once per year.

    A strong bond forms between the mother and her baby immediately after birth. Within a day or two, the mother cow will be separated from her calf. She will cry for her missing baby for days.

    A male calf is considered useless to the dairy industry because he cannot produce milk. If he isn’t raised and sold for beef, this baby will likely be sold to the veal industry.

    Food for thought