Zimbabwe to cull elephants, distribute meat to people
HARARE : Zimbabwe will cull dozens of elephants and distribute the meat for consumption to ease the ballooning population of the animals, its wildlife authority said today.
The southern Africa country is home to the second-biggest elephant population in the world after Botswana.
The cull at a vast private game reserve in the southeast would initially target 50 elephants, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) said in a statement.
It did not say how many of the animals would be killed in total or over what period.
An aerial survey in 2024 showed the reserve, the Save Valley Conservancy, had 2,550 elephants, more than triple its carrying capacity of 800, ZimParks said.
At least 200 have been translocated to other parks over the past five years.
'Elephant meat from the management exercise will be distributed to local communities while ivory will be state property that will be handed over to the ZimParks for safekeeping,' it said.
Zimbabwe is unable to sell its stockpile of tusks due to a global ban on ivory trading.
Tuesday's announcement came a day after four people were arrested in the capital Harare with more than 230kg of ivory for which they were allegedly seeking a buyer.
In 2024, Zimbabwe culled 200 elephants as it faced an unprecedented drought that led to food shortages. It was the first major cull since 1988.
The move to hunt the elephants for food has drawn sharp criticism, particularly as the animals are a major tourism draw.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Malay Mail
HK scientist puts hope in nest boxes to save endangered cockatoos
HONG KONG, Aug 20 — Above the teeming shopping streets of Hong Kong's Causeway Bay district, a fight to save one of the world's most endangered species is unfolding high in the branches of a decades-old cotton tree. Nestled among its sprawling boughs is a nest box designed for the yellow-crested cockatoo, of which only 1,200 to 2,000 remain in the world. Although the birds are native to East Timor and Indonesia, one-tenth of those left are found in Hong Kong—the 'largest cohesive remaining wild population' globally, according to Astrid Andersson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hong Kong. Their future now hangs in the balance, due to habitat loss and, some suspect, a black market for the rare birds. The cockatoos' numbers have stagnated, with far fewer juveniles than when Andersson began monitoring almost 10 years ago. The birds don't make their own nests but depend on natural cavities in trees—about 80 percent of which have vanished in recent years, because of typhoon damage and government pruning. The nest boxes set up by Andersson are an attempt to rectify this, designed to resemble the hollows sought out by the birds. She plans to place about 50 around the city. 'Without the nest boxes, I believe that the cockatoos will have fewer and fewer opportunities to increase or replace individuals that die in their population,' she said. The boxes will also allow observation of their reproductive behaviour, which has never been comprehensively studied. Human-wildlife coexistence The cockatoos' existence in Hong Kong has been 'a very positive story about human-wildlife coexistence', said Andersson. The population in Hong Kong is an introduced one, with one urban legend recounting they originated from an aviary set free by the British governor of Hong Kong before surrendering to the Japanese in 1941. There is no evidence to support that story, however—the modern flock's ancestors are in fact believed to be escaped pets. Hong Kong's urban parks, full of mature trees bearing fruit, nuts and other food, became a 'sanctuary' for them, Andersson said. The cockatoos are now part of the city's fabric, their loud squawks echoing through the sky at nightfall. Perched on streetlights, they sit calmly observing the humming traffic along city flyovers. Many people don't realise they are looking at an endangered species in their neighbourhood. 'We genuinely thought they were just like an average parakeet,' resident Erfan, who lives near a flyover, told AFP. Yellow-crested cockatoos are often mistaken for sulphur-crested cockatoos, commonly found in Australia rummaging through bins. The two are genetically distinct though, and the Australian species is not endangered. Black market? Merchants at Hong Kong's bird market certainly know the difference. When AFP visited, sulphur-crested cockatoos were openly displayed, while yellow-crested ones were only shown upon request. A one-year-old bird was being sold for a whopping HK$56,000 (RM30,348), while a two-month-old chick could sell for HK$14,000. It has been illegal since 2005 to trade wild-caught yellow-crested cockatoos. Selling ones bred in captivity is allowed, but the breeders must have valid licences under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). There are no such registered breeders in Hong Kong. Sharon Kwok Pong, founder of Hong Kong Parrot Rescue, believes there may be a 'black market'. 'There have been people that find out where these birds are, they raid them,' she told AFP. Captive-bred cockatoos should have a ring on their leg and documentation proving their origin, but these can be falsified. 'I think we need a crackdown,' Kwok said. 'If you want to protect a species, so unique in this environment, I think a lot of things need to fall into place.' 'A backup population' Andersson has developed a forensic test that analyses a cockatoo's diet to determine whether it was recently taken from the wild. She hopes this will help enforce the ban on illegal sales. In their native habitats, poaching, rapid habitat loss and climate change have devastated the cockatoos' numbers. The financial hub's birds may one day be able to help revive them. 'Hong Kong's population could have genetic lineages that are now gone,' she said. It could function 'as a backup population for the wild Indonesian counterparts'. — AFP
Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Local vote in Libya off to tense start after security incidents
Polling took place in around 50 municipalities, including the capital Tripoli, today. (AFP pic) TRIPOLI : Hundreds of thousands of Libyans are voting today in the second phase of municipal elections, held under tight security after incidents and irregularities forced delays at several stations. The elections are seen as a test of democracy in a nation still plagued by division and instability after years of unrest following the Nato-backed uprising that toppled long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Polling took place in around 50 municipalities, including the capital Tripoli, with some stations opening at 9am to serve 380,000 registered voters. A heavy police presence was deployed in the west by the Tripoli-based unity government. Since Gaddafi's overthrow, Libya has been split between the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, led by prime minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and its eastern rival, backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar. After a first phase in November across 58 cities, the vote was initially scheduled in 63 municipalities – 41 in the west, 13 in the east and nine in the south. The high national election commission (HNEC) had to suspend elections in 11 municipalities, mostly in Haftar-controlled areas, due to 'irregularities' including unexplained halts in voter card distribution. Today, the commission also announced the postponement to Aug 23 of elections in seven more municipalities, mostly in the west, including four in the Zawiyah area, as well as Surman and Sabratha. The delays followed yesterday arson attacks that destroyed electoral materials in Zawiyah and Sahel al-Gharbi, 45km from Tripoli. And on Tuesday, the electoral body said a group of armed men attacked its headquarters in Zliten, some 160km east of Tripoli. It made no mention of any casualties, although the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said there were some injuries. 'These attacks, on the eve of polling day, threaten the conduct of the ongoing municipal elections and the broader democratic aspirations of the Libyan people,' UNSMIL said. 'Such criminal acts represent another grave assault on the electoral process and a blatant attempt to disenfranchise citizens, undermine their right to choose their representatives, and obstruct the democratic process,' the mission added. For Tripoli resident Esraa Abdelmomen, 36, a mother of three, the municipal elections were 'very important' because they determine who would manage the government-allocated funds. Following Gaddafi's fall in 2011, Libya held its first free elections in 2012 to select 200 members of the General National Congress. That was followed by nationwide municipal elections in 2013 and legislative polls in June 2014, which were marred by renewed violence and very low turnout. In some western municipalities, residents are voting in a local election for the first time since 2014.
Malay Mail
5 days ago
- Malay Mail
Israel in talks to resettle Gaza Palestinians in South Sudan, sources say
NAIROBI, Aug 16— South Sudan and Israel are discussing a deal to resettle Palestinians from war-torn Gaza in the troubled African nation, three sources told Reuters - a plan quickly dismissed as unacceptable by Palestinian leaders. The sources, who have knowledge of the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity, said no agreement had been reached but talks between South Sudan and Israel were ongoing. The plan, if carried further, would envisage people moving from an enclave shattered by almost two years of war with Israel to a nation in the heart of Africa riven by years of political and ethnically-driven violence. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and Israel's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the information from the three sources. A spokesperson for the US State Department said, 'we do not speak to private diplomatic conversations,' when asked about the plan and if the United States supported the idea. Netanyahu said this month he intends to extend military control in Gaza, and this week repeated suggestions that Palestinians should leave the territory voluntarily. Arab and world leaders have rejected the idea of moving Gaza's population to any country. Palestinians say that would be like another 'Nakba' (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. The three sources said the prospect of resettling Palestinians in South Sudan was raised during meetings between Israeli officials and South Sudanese Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba when he visited the country last month. Their account appeared to contradict South Sudan's foreign ministry which on Wednesday dismissed earlier reports on the plan as 'baseless'. The ministry was not immediately available to respond to the sources' assertions yesterday. News of the discussions was first reported by the Associated Press on Tuesday, citing six people with knowledge of the matter. Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the Palestinian leadership and people 'reject any plan or idea to displace any of our people to South Sudan or to any other place'. His statement echoed a statement from the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday. Hamas, which is fighting Israel in Gaza, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, who visited the South Sudanese capital Juba this week, told reporters that those discussions had not focussed on relocation. 'This is not what the discussions were about,' she said when asked if any such plan had been discussed. 'The discussions were about foreign policy, about multilateral organisations, about the humanitarian crisis, the real humanitarian crisis happening in South Sudan, and about the war,' she said, referring to her talks with Juba officials. Netanyahu, who met Kumba last month, has said Israel is in touch with a few countries to find a destination for Palestinians who want to leave Gaza. He has consistently declined to provide further details. — Reuters
