The Sunday News
Roberta Katunga Senior Business Reporter
ELEPHANT population in the Hwange National Park is ballooning and posing a threat to food security as well as putting a lot of pressure on the environment amid revelations that the park has about 45 000 jumbos against its carrying capacity of 15 000.Speaking after a tour of the Hwange National Park and surrounding communities last week, Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water, Tourism and Hospitality Industry chairperson Cde Annastacia Ndhlovu said the elephant population was likely to reverse the gains of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio- Economic Transformation (Zim Asset) as the animals were spilling into communities and destroying crops, in a situation that was becoming untenable.
“As a portfolio committee we saw it fit to take a tour and see the situation of sustainable management of wildlife vis-a-vis the ballooning elephant herd and how it is affecting the human population living in areas adjacent to the park.
The population at Hwange National Park is exceeding the maximum carrying capacity hence the elephants are now going into communities in search of food and water.
We really got an appreciation of the challenges that are being faced as well as the resource constraints faced by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority,” said Cde Ndhlovu.
She said the elephants were not only posing a threat to the communities but to other animals as well, as there was serious competition for food and water within the park.
Responding to questions on what has to be done to solve the over population crisis at the park, Cde Ndhlovu said the excess animals had to be sold to other countries that needed them as the money would assist the ZPWMA to fulfil its mandate as well as add value in areas where these elephants are from.
“We feel that the sale of excess elephants will add value by bringing development in areas where they originate from and the money will also assist parks in sustainable wildlife management. Another option might be to relocate the elephants from Hwange National Park to less crowded areas,” she said.
An adult elephant consumes at least 300 kilogrammes of food and 200 litres of water per day.
Annually, the country requires at least $2,5 million for operations and pumping game water gobbles at least $800 000.
Zimbabwe is not the only country in the region facing an elephant population problem as most countries in southern Africa, such as Botswana and South Africa, face similar issues.
Both elephant and human populations have been booming, thereby creating challenges on land utilisation and a fight for access to water and food resources.
In northern Botswana, for example, local officials have reported that 40 percent of their annual crops are destroyed by elephant herds.
Zimbabwe’s animal population has more than doubled to 100 000 elephants in the past 30 years and national parks officials say the country has the capacity to only accommodate half that number.
The elephants are creating conflict with villagers and some believe that culling the animals would ensure food stocks are kept safe.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is said to be left with less than 1 000 lions with at least 45 000 lions left the world over.
Cde Ndhlovu said it was important for authorities to put measures in place to conserve the animals especially in areas where they were living in conflict with humans where there is a high risk of poaching and loss of life.
She said ensuring the lions do not get out of reserved areas would also save livestock.
