Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) has lamented the elephants’ overpopulation particularly at Hwange National Park which has a carrying capacity of 15 000 elephants but is currently dealing with a population of between 45 000 and 53 000 jumbos, The Sunday News reports.
This was revealed by ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo who said;
We are battling an over population of this species, against an ecological carrying capacity of around 15 000 we are talking of between 45 000 and 53 000 between Hwange-Matesti block. For years this has been the problem and the threat now is vegetation which is their food and habitat loss for these and other animals in the park,
The biggest threat to these animals is loss of habitat. They (elephants) are destroying other animal’s habitats such as bird species which can only live and breed in certain tree heights. Elephants have a tendency of knocking down trees as they reach for food and when they do that they affect a lot of other animals in the park.
ZimParks at some point said it was considering elephant birth control as they revealed they have a carrying capacity of 55 000 but the elephant population had surpassed 88 000.
Farawo said the overpopulation was increasing the human and wildlife interactions which might be fatal in some instances.
More: The Sunday News