At least 100 elephants are said to have recently died in Zimbabwe’s largest protected area. According to animal rights activists, the reason is too little rain and high temperatures. Older, sick and very young animals are particularly affected.
It is bone dry in Hwange National Park, even though the rainy season began in November. But there has hardly been any rain so far. The water sources are either completely dry or only small mud puddles. At one of them, a group of elephants are fighting over who gets to drink first.
Daphine Mathlamoto, chief ecologist at the Zimparks National Park Administration, says the park has been receiving less and less rain for years. And it’s getting hotter and hotter. “We measured temperatures of up to 43 degrees. Climate change is to blame for this. Elephants need water, which is why they are now dying of thirst.”
Elephants need more than 100 liters of water a day
An adult elephant needs more than 100 liters of water per day. Next to the waterhole lie pachyderm carcasses, collapsed and covered in flies and vulture droppings. Park rangers use a drone to search the bushland for more dead elephants.
Around 45,000 of the animals live in Hwange Park, which is almost as big as Schleswig-Holstein. Like water buffalo, oryx, rhinos and giraffes, they are supplied with groundwater that is pumped into the watering holes from more than 100 solar-powered boreholes.
But that is no longer enough because the groundwater level has fallen. The problem must therefore be solved fundamentally, including with the help of geologists, says Henry Ndaimani from the International Animal Welfare Fund IFAW in Zimbabwe. “We need to know how much groundwater is available in the protected area and how much the elephants can use. And whether it will be available the day after tomorrow, next year, and in the future.”
“Wildlife at the center of the climate protection agenda”
IFAW is working with the park administration to increase the pumping capacity of the solar fountains. But in the long term, the only solution is to put wildlife at the center of the climate protection agenda, says Arnold Tshipa from the Animal Welfare Fund.
He points to the benefits of elephants for the climate when they distribute plant seeds and fertilizer with their feces: “Animals are not just victims, they are also partners. Elephants promote the growth of new forests in the landscape. These forests then help to break down carbon dioxide . This is important in climate change.”
According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, more than 200 elephants died of thirst during a similar drought in Zimbabwe four years ago. However, the Zimparks park administration points out that the population is by no means endangered. A spokesman told the government-affiliated news agency NewZiana that these were mainly old, sick and very young animals that could not travel long distances in search of water and food.
According to Zimparks, there are around 82,000 elephants in Zimbabwe. This is the second largest population in Africa after Botswana.
Karin Wehrheim, ARD Johannesburg, tagesschau, December 13, 2023 6:28 p.m