Fact-check: More to culling of elephants than feeding hungry communities

Claim: Various news reports have claimed Zimbabwe’s parks and wildlife authority will cull 200 elephants to feed communities facing acute hunger amidst the worst drought in four decades.

Is this true or false

Verdict: Misleading

The motive behind the culling of 200 elephants seems to have been taken out of context as there is more to the decision than to feeding hungry communities.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority’s spokesperson, Tinashe Farawo, clarified that the primary motive for killing the elephants is to de-congest the country’s national parks.

In a statement made to ZimFact he said, “The reason why we are culling is because our elephants are over populated, our ecosystem cannot support or sustain the number of elephants that we have within our parks”.

He went on to say, “For example, Hwange National Parks’ ecological carrying capacity is 15,000 but it is carrying between 45,000 and 55,000 elephants, of course 200 is a drop in the ocean but the main reason is not to feed people but to de-congest the parks.

What is culling?

Elephant culling is the practice of controlling elephant populations by killing them, as human settlements encroach on their natural habitats in a battle for limited space. The planned cull will target elephants in areas will the most human-wildlife conflict.