An overpopulation of elephants in Zimbabwe’s parks has posed a new challenge for some of the country’s parks as they cant kill or sell them, Open parly reports. Additionally, the elephants are reportedly destroying villagers’ crops in search of food.
This was revealed by The Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry’s representative in parly who said this to the parliamentarians:
It is a fact that this specie is overpopulated. To manage them has become a problem; to sell them has become a problem; to kill them is a problem, that is the reason why we have an overpopulation of this specie in both Hwange and Gonarezhou.
There are certain laws that bind us which makes us become unable to sell and reduce the number of elephants in this country,
…These elephants are coming to their fields to destroy their crops. They even come to the extent of killing people but the burning issue is that there is no compensation that has been given to any of those people who suffer this catastrophe
Zimbabwe has the capacity to carry 55 000 elephants but currently, the country’s elephant population stands at 88 000 meaning parks are battling with an overpopulation of 33 000.
More: Open Parly