Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Zimbabwe’s elephant culling plan stirs debate
The Republic of Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa with a population of around 15 million. Besides minerals, gold, agriculture, tourism generates substantial revenues to Zimbabwe but that business has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. Another headache for Zimbabwe is a growing population of wild elephants whose population is the second-largest in Africa after Botswana. The estimated number of elephants grew from 84,000 to over 100,000 during the last few years. It is good news because African elephants, both forest and savanna, are endangered species but bad news for Zimbabwe because the growing elephant population poses a risk to other animals and humans. Indeed, elephants eat and move a lot, which often gives devastating impacts on other inhabitants.
In order to raise funds to maintain the elephant population, the country sells hunting licenses to kill hundreds of elephants. The authority says the elephants also have to take care of themselves. But that doesn’t seem to be enough to protect the lives and interests of other species that are threatened by the increasing number of elephants. So, the government is thinking about culling elephants to cope with the increasing population and decreasing revenues. While a lot of efforts are being made to save the mammoth mammals, one country is left with no choice but to kill them. Are there any coordinated solutions?
Read the article and learn about the headache Zimbabwe is having now.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/6/5/zimbabwe-elephant-culling-plan-stirs-debate
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