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Zimbabwe approves mass slaughter of elephants to feed hungry citizens
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Zimbabwe has authorized a mass slaughter of elephants to feed citizens left hungry by its worst drought in decades.
With nearly half of the country’s population facing the risk of acute hunger, “we are targeting to cull 200 elephants,” Tinashe Farawo, a spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, told CNN on Monday.
The move follows a decision in Namibia to cull elephants and other wild animals to relieve food insecurity fueled by a prolonged drought. The culls have drawn criticism from animal rights activists and conservationists.
Zimbabwe is home to more than 84,000 elephants, Farawo said, around double its “capacity of 45,000,” he added.
2019/11/29: African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Huanib River Valley in northern Damaraland and Kaokoland, Namibia.
Zimbabwe’s elephant population is the second-largest in the world, exceeded only by Botswana’s.
Environment Minister Sithembiso Nyoni told parliamentarians last week that “Zimbabwe has more elephants than we need and more elephants than our forests can accommodate.”
She added that overpopulation by elephants “causes lack of resources” for their sustenance, which fuels human-wildlife conflict in the country.
“We are discussing with Zim Parks (Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority) and some communities to do like what Namibia has done so that we can count the elephants, mobilize the women to maybe dry the meat and package it to ensure that it gets to some communities that need the protein,” Nyoni said.
“When there is an overpopulation of wildlife in a specific park, they will then seek to go outside the park to look for other resources such as water or greenery. When that happens, they will then come into contact with the humans and conflicts begin.”
In Namibia, 700 wild animals, including elephants, were approved for slaughter last month and for their meat to be distributed to people facing food insecurity.
More than 150 animals have already been killed, Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism said, with more than 125,000 pounds of meat shared out.
Zimbabwe and Namibia are just two of the many countries across southern Africa suffering a severe drought caused by El Niño — a natural climate pattern that has resulted in very little rainfall in the region since the start of the year. The countries are also vulnerable to droughts worsened by climate change.
Farawo, the parks spokesperson, told CNN that the culling will begin once the authority completes the necessary paperwork.
“We are doing the paperwork … so that we can start as soon as possible,” he said, adding that the planned slaughter would target areas with a large elephant population.
The proposed elephant culls in Zimbabwe and Namibia have been strongly criticized.
“Culling of elephants must be stopped,” Farai Maguwu, who leads the Zimbabwe-based advocacy group the Center for Natural Resource Governance, said in a post on X.
“Elephants have a right to exist,” he wrote, adding that “future generations have a right to see elephants in their natural habitat.”
Conservation biologist and natural resources consultant Keith Lindsay also expressed his discomfort at using wildlife to alleviate food insecurity, telling CNN that it is “very likely to lead to a more regular, ongoing demand for bushmeat that would be unsustainable.”
Farawo, however, said Zimbabwe’s decision to slaughter elephants — its first cull since 1988 — was part of wider measures to reduce conflict between elephants and humans, following a series of elephant attacks on humans.
“The animals are causing a lot of havoc in communities, killing people. Last week, we lost a woman in the northern part of the country who was killed by an elephant. The previous week, the same thing happened. So it (the culling) is also a way of controlling,” he said.
At least 31 people have died in Zimbabwe this year as a result of conflict between humans and wildlife, local media reported.
Credit/CNN
Iran still has “21, 22 per cent” of its missiles left, US President Donald Trump said Friday, in a week in which Tehran fired dozens of them toward regional neighbours, despite a sputtering ceasefire.
“They still have capacity. They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say, percentage wise, maybe 21, 22 percent of their missiles,” Trump told NBC News in an interview.
That figure for Iran’s missile stockpile is higher than one of 18 per cent Trump gave in May. He has often claimed to have completely destroyed Iran’s war-fighting capacity.
Iran’s military said Friday it had fired “warning missiles” at two US destroyers in the Gulf of Oman — a claim promptly denied by the US military. Two days earlier, Kuwait said it had intercepted 30 ballistic missiles fired as part of “heinous Iranian aggression.”
AFP
The United States and allies on Friday condemned the ongoing efforts to overthrow the elected government of President Rodrigo Paz in Bolivia.
The Shield of the Americas member states said “mob rule” cannot replace the decision that most Bolivians made at the ballot box to remove “two decades of corrupt governments.”
The U.S., Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago signed the joint statement.
They affirm support for the Paz administration as it resists “attempts to drag Bolivia backwards through cynical efforts to prevent the delivery of food, medicine and other vital supplies.”
“Those who are funding these protests with dirty money from drug trafficking and transnational crime should be held accountable,” the allies urged.
The governments encouraged people who have grievances to dialogue with the government, warning against abusing their causes to “regain power.”
President Paz admitted Bolivia has been pushed to a “breaking point” amid weeks of widespread protests and a blockade that has paralyzed major cities.
Farmers, miners, transport workers and teachers are demanding immediate measures to ease the country’s worst economic crisis in four decades.
Defence Minister Marcelo Salinas and Education Minister Beatriz Garcia resigned this week as demonstrators continue to demand Paz’s resignation, a call he rejects.
The government accuses ex-President Evo Morales of fuelling unrest, which opposition figures believe could end with a referendum to decide whether Paz should remain in office.
Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of carrying out a deadly drone attack on a university complex in Starobelsk, in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region, claiming that 21 students were killed in the strike.
According to a statement circulated by Russian officials, the attack occurred on the night of May 22 and targeted the academic building and dormitory of Lugansk State Pedagogical University.
Russian authorities alleged that 16 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including four heavy drones, were deployed in three waves during the operation.
Officials described the incident as one of the deadliest attacks on a civilian educational facility in the region since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, claiming that the victims were students residing in the university dormitory.
“Just a week ago, they were students with dreams, plans and a future. Today, all that remains are photographs, memories and unbearable grief,” the statement said.
The authorities further alleged that the strike was deliberate and targeted civilians rather than military infrastructure.
The claims could not be independently verified, and Ukrainian authorities had not publicly responded to the allegations at the time of filing this report.
Since the start of the conflict, both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of carrying out attacks on civilian infrastructure, allegations that are often difficult to verify independently due to ongoing hostilities and restricted access to affected areas.
The reported incident has renewed concerns among humanitarian organizations about the impact of the war on educational institutions and young people caught in the conflict.
The Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fifth year, has resulted in thousands of civilian casualties, widespread displacement and extensive damage to homes, schools, hospitals and critical infrastructure across both countries.
International observers have consistently called for independent investigations into attacks involving civilian casualties, regardless of the parties involved, to establish the facts and ensure accountability under international humanitarian law.
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