(AFP): More than 360 elephants have died mysteriously in Botswana’s famed Okavango Delta in the past three months, the head of the wildlife department said.
The acting director of Wildlife and National Parks, Cyril Taolo, said, “We have had a report of 356 dead elephants in the area north of the Okavango Delta and we have confirmed 275 so far.”
He further said that the cause of the deaths was yet to be established with anthrax having been ruled out. “We do not suspect poaching since (the) animals were found with tusks,” he added. Samples have been collected and sent to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Canada for testing.
Niall McCann, director of conservation at United Kingdom charity National Park Rescue said that some carcasses were found clustered around waterholes, while others appeared to have died falling flat on their faces.
Similar deaths were first reported in May when authorities found 12 carcasses in just a week in two villages in the northwest of the country.
The latest discoveries were flagged by a wildlife conservation charity, Elephants Without Borders (EWB), whose confidential report was leaked to the media on Wednesday.
According to the report, “70 percent of elephant carcasses were considered recent, having died about a month ago, and 30 percent of the carcasses appeared fresh, ranging from one day to two weeks old”.
The report further states that live elephants seen nearby appeared physically weak, and one was walking in circles, unable to change direction. Other species in the area did not appear to have been affected by whatever struck down the elephants.
Botswana – the southern African country – has the world’s largest elephant population, estimated to be around 130,000. The country is also witnessing a decline in the elephant population.
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