at least a hundred elephants have died over the past three months in Hwange National Park, western Zimbabwefor lack of water, The environmental authorities of the African country confirmed to EFE today.
“Wild animals and elephants are dying in Hwange Park due to water shortage and we are still monitoring the situation,” the spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), Tinashe Farawo, told EFE.
Last month, the death of pachyderms “I had reached seventy and now there are one hundred” in Hwange, the largest park in Zimbabwe, with 14,650 square kilometers, Farawo said.
The spokesperson for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Luckmore Safuli, told EFE that the park “has been recording a large number of elephant and wildlife deaths” by “a serious water shortage”.
According to the IFAW, summer rains were delayed by five weeks due to the current El Niño phenomenon, which consists of a change in atmospheric dynamics caused by the increase in the temperature of the Pacific Ocean.
“Elephants and other wildlife species will face a crisis if the rains do not come soon. In 2019, more than 200 elephants died in Zimbabwe due to a severe drought. This phenomenon is recurrent,” that NGO warned in a statement.
To prevent the death of animals, Farawo explained to EFE that ZimParks has built artificial watering holes and water wells have been dug. Zimbabwe is home to more than 80,000 African savanna elephants, the second largest population of these animals on the continent.
The number of these animals in Africa decreased by 60% during the last 50 years, according to data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which pushed the institution to declare them in danger of extinction.
Their main threats are the loss of their habitats and poaching encouraged by the demand for ivory, especially from some Asian countries.
The pachyderms’ fangs are sold to be transformed into figures, sculptures, bracelets, necklaces or other exclusive ornaments.
Source: Gestion
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
