Zimbabwe wildlife authorities say
at least 55 elephants have died of hunger and thirst in Hwange national park,
the country’s largest natural reserve.
Tinashe Farawo, the Zimbabwe
national parks and wildlife authority spokesperson, confirmed the deaths to
state broadcaster, on Monday.
He said the situation at the game
reserve was desperate and the authority was looking for funds to sink more
boreholes in the game reserve.
“We can confirm that a total of
55 elephants have died at the national park over the past two months due to
starvation,” he said.
“The situation at most of our
parks is dire due to the climate change-induced drought.”
The game reserve depends on
groundwater pumped from several boreholes.
Samson Chibaya, another wildlife
management official, said the available boreholes were not enough to meet the
water demand.
“While we have made efforts to
try and convert some of the water pumping stations from diesel to solar powered
pumps, we have seen that some of the water pans are drying (up),” he said.
“We are calling for more
resources for installation of diesel pumps to complement the solar pumps.”
Zimbabwe – with more than 84,000
elephants – has the second biggest herd in the world after Botswana but can
sustainably manage about 56,000 of them.
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