Zimbabwe plans to slaughter 200 elephants to provide food for communities suffering from the worst drought in four decades, wildlife authorities.
The El Niño-induced drought has devastated southern Africa, leading to widespread crop failures and leaving 68 million people facing food shortages across the region.
"We can confirm that we are planning to cull about 200 elephants across the country. We are working on the modalities of how we are going to do it," Tinashe Farawo, spokesperson for Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (Zimparks), told Reuters. He added that the elephant meat will be distributed to communities severely impacted by the drought.
This will be Zimbabwe's first elephant cull since 1988, taking place in districts such as Hwange, Mbire, Tsholotsho, and Chiredzi. The decision follows a similar move by Namibia, which recently culled 83 elephants to provide meat to those affected by the drought.
Southern Africa is home to one of the largest elephant populations in the world, with more than 200,000 elephants across Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Angola, and Namibia.
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