Namibia, facing drought, plans to kill elephants for meat



South African country namibia Plans to butcher hundreds of the most majestic animals to feed 1.4 million people – nearly half the country Hunger crisis Among the worst the drought In a century
Under the plan, 723 people will be killed in the country wild animalincluding 83 the elephantThe country’s Ministry of Environment, Forests and Tourism said in a press release that it is “necessary” to feed people and “consistent with our constitutional mandate where our natural resources are used for the benefit of citizens.”
This technique is not unheard of. “Sustainable harvesting of well-managed, healthy wildlife populations can be a valuable source of food for communities,” Rose Mwebaza, director of the UN Environment Program’s Africa office, wrote in an email.
Much of South Africa is affected by drought. More than 30 million people across the region have been affected, the UN’s World Food Program said in June. “There is no food,” said Julian Zeidler, country director of the World Wildlife Fund in Namibia.
As drought dries up staple crops and kills livestock in the region, Namibia is looking past agriculture to its wildlife for food.
Animals are not killed just for meat. Namibia is also grappling with dangerous encounters with humans that are expected to increase during droughts as animals and people seek water and plants.
The situation is dire. Last week, a UN spokesman said that 84% of Namibia’s food resources were “already exhausted.”
Namibia’s turn to wild game is nothing new. According to a recent Namibian government report on the country’s game meat industry, people in the region eat some animals listed on the Ministry of Environment’s cool list, such as zebra, blue wildebeest and impala.





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