Sixty people have been killed since the start of 2022 by elephants in Zimbabwe, where this large land mammal has one of the few growing populations, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday May 10.
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With 100,000 specimens, Zimbabwe has the second largest elephant population in the world after Botswana, about a quarter of the elephants in Africa.
Unlike other countries, where poachers have culled these mammals for the ivory trade, Zimbabwe's elephant population is growing at 5% per year.
“Injured elephants become aggressive and uncontrollable”
“
In some areas, elephants move in large herds.
They devoured everything in the fields and are now going to the properties, forcing the inhabitants to fight back, and thereby injuring elephants
,” government spokesman Nick Mangwana wrote on Twitter.
“
Injured elephants become aggressive and uncontrollable
,” according to Nick Mangwana.
“
The issue of human-wildlife conflict has become very sensitive.
This year alone, 60 Zimbabweans have been killed by elephants and 50 injured
,” he said.
Nick Mangwana said elephants killed 72 people in 2021. Elephants started wandering outside game reserves.
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Tinashe Farawo, from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, told AFP it was "
likely there will be disaster if the (elephant) population is not reduced
" .
.
“
The threat is likely to increase during the dry season when herds move in search of water and food
,” he noted, noting that rangers have been deployed to eliminate the most dangerous elephants.
Experts say Zimbabwe has the potential for a population of 45,000 elephants, which need ample grazing land.
