Zimbabwe to cull 200 elephants to ease drought pressure
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00:00Well, Zimbabwe has followed Namibia in announcing plans to slaughter hundreds of wild elephants
00:05and other animals in a bid to tackle the fallout from severe regional drought.
00:09The plan is to distribute the meat of 200 elephants to communities whose food security
00:14has taken a hit this year.
00:16Nyasha Chingono brings us more from Hirari.
00:22It's a self-balancing act dealing with conservation issues and the growing elephant population
00:27in a drought year.
00:29Conservation authorities have announced that they will kill 200 elephants to feed hungry
00:34communities across the country.
00:36We are now sounding like a broken record, that our elephants or our animals are too
00:45many.
00:46We have more than what we need.
00:47We have more than what our ecosystem can support, so it's also one of the measures to make
00:51sure that at least we also deal with that problem and at the same time communities also
00:58benefit from the meat that will be distributed.
01:01The Southern African country has one of the largest elephant populations in the region.
01:06It has 85,000 elephants, but parks officials say it can only contain 55,000.
01:13This has caused the animals to come into constant conflict with humans.
01:18Parks officials say 30 people have been killed by animals to date.
01:24Wildlife management is science-based.
01:25It's evidence-based.
01:26There's overwhelming evidence that the numbers that we have are not sustainable.
01:31It's a disaster waiting to happen.
01:33Wildlife activists warn that the killing of elephants would lead to more poaching.