BOTSWANA
A Silent Killer
Botswanan wildlife officials said Thursday that hundreds of elephants have mysteriously died in the country’s famed Okavango Delta, ruling out poachers as responsible.
“We have had a report of 356 dead elephants in the area north of the Okavango Delta and we have confirmed 275 so far,” Cyril Taolo, the acting director of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, told Agence France-Presse.
Taolo said that poachers aren’t likely responsible because the tusks remained intact on the dead elephants – poachers kill elephants to sell their tusks.
Conservation charity Elephants Without Borders released a report last month saying similar deaths were first reported in May in the northwest of the country.
The charity suspects that elephants have been dying in the region for about three months, adding that a few live elephants were spotted showing signs of weakness and disorientation, or limping.
Botswana has the world’s largest elephant population, estimated to be around 130,000.
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