Botswana probing mystery deaths of 275 elephants

GABORONE, Botswana－Botswana is investigating a growing number of unexplained deaths of elephants, having confirmed 275 had died, up from 154 two weeks ago, the government said on Thursday.

The dead elephants were first spotted months ago in the Okavango Delta region of the southern African country, and the authorities said they had since been trying to discover the cause. Poaching has been ruled out as the cause of death, as the carcasses were found intact.

"Three laboratories in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Canada have been identified to process the samples taken from the dead elephants," the country's Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism said in a statement.

Kenneth Maselesele, acting permanent secretary of the ministry, dismissed reports by some Western media suggesting that at least 356 dead elephants were found.

"Following the mysterious deaths of elephants in the areas of Seronga (in the northwestern part of Botswana) since March 2020, to date 275 elephant carcasses have been verified against the 356 reported cases," Maselesele said.

In a report seen by Reuters, Elephants Without Borders, or EWB, a conservation organization, said that its aerial surveys showed that elephants of all ages appeared to be dying. The group counted 169 dead elephants on May 25, and a further 187 on June 14, according to the report.

The directors of EWB did not immediately respond to phone calls or text messages seeking comment on the report.

The report said urgent action was needed to establish if the deaths were caused by disease or poisoning.

Africa's overall elephant population is declining due to poaching, but Botswana, home to almost a third of the continent's elephants, has seen numbers grow to 130,000 from 80,000 in the late 1990s.

It is believed that 10 percent of the estimated 130,000 elephants in Botswana are in the Okavango Delta, one of Botswana's most popular attractions for tourists.

Eco-tourism, which has been badly affected by the deadly COVID-19, contributes between 10 and 12 percent of the country's GDP, second only to diamonds.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi lifted a five-year ban on big game hunting in May last year but the hunting season failed to take off in April as global travel restrictions meant hunters from many coronavirus-hit countries could not enter Botswana.

Agencies - Xinhua