Zimbabwe grants permission for at least fifty elephants to be culled

Wildlife authorities in Zimbabwe announced on Tuesday that they had granted permits to cull at least 50 elephants from a reserve that has three times as many elephants than the habitat can support.

About 2,550 elephants live in the southern Zimbabwean Save Valley Conservancy, despite the area’s “carrying capacity” of 800, according to a statement from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

200 elephants have previously been relocated to other areas by the conservancy in an effort to control its elephant population throughout the last five years.

While the ivory from the slaughtered animals will be given to the park management, the meat from the cull will be divided among the local population.

Zimbabwe is home to one of the biggest elephant herds in the world, and as a result of climate change, human-wildlife conflict has gotten worse as elephants invade human areas in quest of water and food.

The nation in Southern Africa authorized the first killing of roughly 200 elephants since 1988 last year. Following Namibia’s announcement that it will also distribute meat from the cull to villages impacted by a severe regional drought, authorities at the time claimed they would do so.