The plan to kill elephants in Zimbabwe sparks controversy in the Environment

Harare, Zimbabwe – The population of African elephants is declining dangerously, but not in Zimbabwe.

Authorities in the southern African country have estimated that its mammal mammals now number just over 100,000 – up from 84,000 in 2014, when the last census was conducted – to reach a capacity of around 45,000.

The surplus has in recent weeks prompted the government to carry out massive killings of elephants (which the country last committed in 1988) as an opportunity to control the population to protect other wildlife and the country’s vegetation.

“We are overcrowded with elephants in this country,” Zimbabwe Park and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) spokesman Tinashe Farawo told Al Jazeera.

Authorities maintain that the growing elephant population is at risk for other animals due to habitat destruction, and it has also led to an increase in dangerous human-wildlife interaction, with dozens of deaths in recent years.

“We have vultures that breed in trees. Vultures no longer breed in Hwange (National Park); they have gone to other places because elephants have a habit of cutting down trees, ”Farawo said.

He noted that the plan is still in the “training phase” and that a final decision has yet to be made, but stressed that Zimbabwe’s laws allow for murder.

But the Center for Natural Resources Governance (CNRG), the environmental and human rights watchdog, opposed what it documented as hunting in Zimbabwe.

“Eventually these elephants will cause extinction,” spokesman Simiso Mlevu told Al Jazeera.

“This is just the beginning,” he said. “Soon they will force us to travel to other countries to see an elephant.”

Earlier this year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said that the African forest elephant is “endangered” and that the African savannah elephant is “at risk of extinction”, citing delayed hunting and habitat loss for declining numbers.

According to the latest assessments by the Swiss-based group, the number of African forest elephants has fallen by more than 86 per cent in 31 years. Meanwhile, the population of African savannah elephants has declined by at least 60 percent in the last half century.

Zimbabwe has the second largest elephant population on the continent after Botswana, accounting for about a third of the remaining 415,000 elephants in Africa.

Other options

In addition to killing, another option considered by Zimbabwean authorities is to move elephants from densely populated areas. Farawo said both are hampered by a lack of funds.

“It’s an expensive process and we don’t have the money right now,” he added. “In 2018, we moved 100 elephants and the exercise cost us $ 400,000.”

Farawo said the government organization ZimParks needs at least $ 25 million annually for its operations. But the agency has not received any money from the Zimbabwean-funded government since 2001.

Farawo said his organization needed revenue to conserve elephants, but his finances were a huge success in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic severely affected the country’s tourism industry.

In late April, Zimbabwe said it planned to sell hunting licenses to kill 500 elephants for revenue. Trophy hunters are expected to pay between $ 10,000 and $ 70,000 depending on the size of the elephants.

According to Farawo, Farawo says “elephants have to pay for their maintenance” said the quota for hunting 500 elephants, separate from the killing plan, is supported by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). .

“Elephants also need to take care of themselves, so we need to allow trade to make that happen,” Farawo said.

“[This] it means that money has to be created, that income comes from elephants. Right now, tourism is dead, so people don’t come to see the elephants. ”

CNVG’s Mlevu said the killing would affect tourism – Zimbabwe’s prominent economist John Robertson took his stand.

“It causes serious damage to wildlife,” Robertson told Al Jazeera. “The loss of wildlife reduces tourism opportunities because the country relies heavily on it.”

Audrey Delsink, director of wildlife at the Humane Society International / Africa, said the killing of elephants “has a traumatic impact on the rest of the population.” The reason for this is that the South African authorities use contraceptives as an option to control the population.

Noticing that 76% of Africa’s elephant populations cross borders, Delsink told Al Jazeera: “Management actions at the wrong scale can have massive consequences and consequences that extend far beyond the target area, area or population.

“Therefore, Zimbabwe’s management options could have dire consequences for transient elephants. It seems that the situation in Zimbabwe is not about the number of elephants per se, but about the funding of the management authority – elephants are just a means to that end. “