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Massive Deaths Of Elephants Due To Drought-Zimparks fiddle

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority on Tuesday downplayed reports of massive deaths of elephants and other wildlife in the Hwange National Park allegedly due to lack of drinking water occasioned by the late onset of the rains.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) had raised the alarm over the death of more than 100 elephants in the country’s largest national park allegedly due to lack of water attributed to an extended climate induced dry spell.In a statement, IFAW landscape programme director Phillip Kuvawoga said elephants and other wildlife are dying in Zimbabwe due to an extended dry season which it said has reduced once abundant water holes to muddy puddles.
“Summer rains are five weeks late due to the ongoing El Niño phenomenon, as dozens of elephants have already died in Hwange National Park, the county’s largest protected area home to about 45 000 elephants. At least 100 elephants are already reported dead due to lack of water,” he said.
“Elephants and other wildlife species will face a crisis if the rains don’t come soon. In 2019, over 200 elephants died in Zimbabwe due to severe drought; this phenomenon is recurring.”

But Zimparks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo told New Ziana that the situation was not as bad as it was being portrayed, as the number of deaths was insignificant when compared to the vast population of elephants.

“We have been having droughts over the past two years and rains have been inconsistent so what that means is that it will definitely affect wildlife, but the situation is not as bad as we are made to believe,” he said.

“The number of deaths measured against the population of our elephants; it will not be felt. The affected animals are mainly the old, young and the sick because they cannot walk long distances in search of food and water,” he said.
Farawo said the prolonged drought has weakened the capacity of Zimparks- to provide water to wildlife.

“Hwange alone is run on 100 percent borehole water. We have 104 boreholes in Hwange as some of the measures we have put in place to ensure that animals have water. But because of this prolonged drought, some boreholes will not pump enough water for the animals since the water table has fallen.”

He said the authority has since intervened to address the situation by drilling 100 solar-powered boreholes to pump underground water into pools for the animals to drink.

But with so much surface water drying up, animals are still forced to walk longer distances, sometimes across national borders, in search of food and the precious liquid. The rainy season in Zimbabwe used to run reliably from October to March but in recent years it has become erratic, sometimes starting in December.
News of the tragedy comes as world leaders are gathered in Dubai for the COP28 (the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change) to discuss, identify and assess climate measures.

Zimbabwe has for years been lobbying the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) to lift the ban on trade in elephants and ivory in order to raise funds for conserving the animals, whose population has surpassed the carrying capacity of its national parks.
The country has a population of over 80 000 elephants against the carrying capacity of its parks of 45 000, a situation which has become unsustainable as the animals are destroying the natural habitat and the ecosystem.
Animal rights groups oppose the calls by the country to remove the ban on trading in elephants and ivory, arguing that doing so would open the floodgates of poaching and illegal trade in ivory. New Zian

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