Over two hundred elephants in the course of the past two months died of hunger and thirst in Zimbabwe.
A long-lasting and extensive drought have dried up pastures, ponds and lakes, where elephants and other animals usually tend to eat and drink.
There is now being arranged a comprehensive rescue operation in order to prevent even more animals die.
Authorities plan to move 600 elephants, several lions and wild dogs, 50 buffalo, 40 giraffes and 2,000 impalas from a national park in the southern part of Zimbabwe to the three national parks in the northern part of the country.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo
Experts describe the opposite to the AFP news agency the rescue operation as the largest of its kind in the country’s history.
the Village residents in the drought-affected areas have with concern seen the sad results of the drought. Recently crashed a baby elephant down in a dry well in an attempt to find water. It succeeded the residents to get the pup up again. In the crash fractured the pup one leg, but it managed, however, to hobble out of the wilderness again.
The lelephant calf fell in a well looking for water. #Asakhe pic.twitter.com/TyfcP0EE3t
— Zenzele (@zenzele) October 29, 2019
in Other places, the residents had to help the exhausted elephants with water and food.
The desperate and thirsty animals are looking into the villages, which in many cases also triggers conflicts between animals and people. In recent years, about two hundred persons perished in such conflicts.
There are about 85,000 elephants in Zimbabwe. The 55,000 of them are in the big national parks. But the parks can’t take more animals in. The parks have been hit hard by the drought. Big pasture is withered away, and vandhullerne is dried out.
– Who will probably die even more elephants, especially if the rain comes later than normal, says Charles Jonga, director of the aid Campfire to The Guardian.
Source: The Guardian
