ZIMPARKS Says Over 100 Elephants Have Died Due To Drought

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (Zimparks) has expressed concern about the increasing number of elephants in Hwange National Park. This concern comes after the death of over 100 elephants due to a drought caused by El Nino. The water sources in the park have dried up, leading to a difficult situation for the elephants.

Tinashe Farawo, the spokesperson for Zimparks, explained that there is no need to panic because the park is already overcrowded with elephants, posing a danger to the environment. He mentioned that out of the 45,000 elephants in the park, only 100 have died, NewZimbabwe reported. The high temperatures and lack of rain have caused stress and death among the elephants. He said in an interview:

We are talking of only 100 elephants in a park with over 45 000 elephants.

It’s expected because the weather is hot. We have high temperatures and we have no water since we haven’t been receiving rain. They are bound to be stressed and die.

What we are concerned about is that they are overpopulated and they are destroying the habitat…in fact, they are becoming a danger to the environment.

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The main concern is the overpopulation of elephants, leading to the destruction of their habitat and posing a threat to the environment. Hwange National Park is part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), which is one of the largest nature and landscape conservation areas in the world, spanning across Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Angola.

To address the problem, Zimparks has installed 104 solar-powered boreholes in the park. However, these boreholes are not sufficient to provide enough water for the wildlife, especially during extreme temperatures. As a result, the animals are forced to travel long distances in search of water.

This is not the first time such a situation has occurred. In 2019, around 200 elephants died due to a dry spell. When elephants move from place to place to find water, they often clash with humans, leading to a rise in human-wildlife conflicts.

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