Zimbabwe Struggles With Human-Elephant Conflict Amid Prolonged Drought

Are elephants endangered in Africa? It depends on which part. Zimbabwe has an estimated 80,000 elephants the most in the region after Botswana. Such an overpopulation is leading to human-elephant conflict as the country faces a prolonged drought and economic crisis, locals say.

“As long as your crops are destroyed by the elephants, which means throughout that year, you've got nothing,” says Lovemore Ncube, a villager who lives outside Victoria Falls. Ncube says he has a family of 15 to support and it’s tough when elephants and lions raid their farm.

“We have excessive elephant populations for the amount of land made available for elephants,” says wildlife manager Ian du Pree of the Nakavango Conservation Programme. “If something's not done quite quickly to control elephant numbers in some way, we are looking at a disaster.”

Zimbabwean wildlife authorities are relocating as many as 600 elephants and other game from the drought-stricken south of the country in one of the biggest rescue operations to date.
The animals are being relocated from “the southern area of Chiredzi and other conservancies, which have been badly affected by drought,” Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesman Tinashe Farawo said by phone. Chiredzi is in the southeast of the country, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the border with Mozambique.

Zimbabwe, which has an estimated 80,000 elephants -- the most in the region after Botswana -- has lost 105 of them due to drought this year, Farawo said.

Other animals that will be moved include two prides of lions, a pack of wild dogs, 2,000 impala antelope, and 14 giraffes. “We intend to start the operation once the rainy season has ended,” Farawo said.

Zimparks doesn’t receive state funding, but finances its operations through wildlife sales.

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[neokennime]

"we feel at least if especially the people are operating with these animals should also look into the welfare of the people who live among these animals."
Agree!

[lonebeagle]

People first, elephants THIRD after the environment which is second. When elephants destroy the local environment because of there are too many elephants for the land to support, this also ends up affecting ALL of the other wild creatures living there. So it's not just people that elephant overpopulation harms, they end up threatening everything in the ecosystem. Culling is probably the only solution.

[Ellofez]

My question is have we tried to offer the farmers to try using Lion urine or something like that they can sprayed around the crops or farm areas to keep the elephant away ??