Source: Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Date: 21 December
Author:Daily Mirror reporter
The ballooning elephant population in Zimbabwe has resulted in untold suffering of people living around jumbo-infested areas, in the wake of an international row over possible ways to control the growing numbers of the endangered species. Twelve out of 27 Zimbabweans killed by wild animals between January and October this year were trampled by elephants, according to a report produced by the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire).
Zimbabwe is currently home to more than 100 000 jumbos, a number that is double the national parks' carrying capacity.National Parks and Wildlife Authority Director General Morris Mutsambiwa said there were 390 000 elephants in the Southern African region lying between Tanzania and South Africa. He said Botswana had the largest elephant population of 120 000, followed by Tanzania and Zimbabwe with 100 000 each, while the balance was shared between South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi.
"An Elephant Management Task Force met in Victoria Falls in May to discuss ways of dealing with overpopulation of elephants and identified four tools. "The first option was that of relocating the animals from high to low concentration areas within the Sadc region, but it would be expensive," said Mutsambiwa.He added that the use of contraceptives as an elephant birth control measure was also discussed. Further, Mutsambiwa said the delegates discussed 'source-sync' dynamics of elephant population control. Under this method, a straying animal would be utilised by the community into which it would have entered. Mutsambiwa added that the task force discussed culling, but added that the method faced heavy criticism from animal rights groups from Western Europe. To compound the elephant problem, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) does not allow Zimbabwe to slaughter above 500 jumbos a year.
"There is a lot of emotion when it comes to elephants. Cites alone cannot deal with the problem because it is the international community which fights for rights of animals that prevents us from killing animals. They actually see Campfire as being in the business of killing animals," said Campfire director Charles Jonga. He added that any one of the Western organisations could fund a Cites meeting and easily sway opinions. One elephant trophy bears US$10 000. For participants to enter the hunt they have to pay a fee in foreign currency. Most of the hunters are from Europe and could pull out any form of support from trophy hunting if they decided the beasts were being cruelly killed, said Jonga.
While the row over elephants continues, ordinary Zimbabweans have had to bear the brunt of sharing meagre resources with the giant beasts in a land ridden by a three-year drought. A hundred jumbos have died so far...