WINDHOEK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Namibia plans to cull 723 wild animals, including 83 elephants, and to distribute the meat to people struggling to feed themselves because of a severe drought across southern Africa, the environment ministry said.
The cull will take place in parks and communal areas where authorities believe animal numbers exceed available grazing land and water supplies, it said in a statement issued on Monday.
Southern Africa is facing its worst drought in decades, with Namibia having exhausted 84% of its food reserves last month, according to the United Nations. Nearly half of Namibia’s population is expected to experience high levels of food insecurity in the coming months.
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I eat meat, but elephants are a little too intelligent for me to be ok with their meat. I’m also not starving and in a drought, so that would probably change my mind…
The elephants themselves are also dying from the drought, so it is fucked up situation all around :(
More than 200,000 elephants are estimated to live in a conservation area spread over five southern African countries - Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Angola and Namibia - making the region home to one of the largest elephant populations worldwide.
Hundreds of elephants died in Botswana and Zimbabwe last year because of drought.
Oh wow… that’s terrible all around.
But I guess it’s happening “over there”, so most people don’t care too much about it :(
The country also plans to cull 30 hippos and 60 buffalo, as well as 50 impala, 100 blue wildebeest, 300 zebra and 100 eland.
Climate crisis is getting a lot more dire than it had been. Please do what you can to help. I don’t like depressing articles like this, but it’s important to be aware and informed. Fuck.
Also, today I learned the word eland. They’re hoofed animals that look sorta like deer.
They should feed the people to the elephants.