Over 350 Elephant Deaths In Botswana

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The News

The landlocked country has the world’s largest elephant population, estimated at 130,000.
Heaven for tuskers – 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.
The Delta alone is home to an estimated 15,000 elephants.
The EWB report
In a report prepared for the government, Elephants Without Borders (EWB), a conservation organisation, said that its aerial surveys showed that elephants of all ages appeared to be dying.
According to the report, dated June 19, 2020 – 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 group counted 169 dead elephants on May 25, and another 187 on June 14.
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.
Several live elephants appeared to have been weak, lethargic and emaciated, with some showing signs of disorientation, difficulty in walking or limping.
**Complete surveys are yet to be conducted .
The numbers may rise

The way the animals appear to be dying – many dropping on their faces – and sightings of other elephants walking in circles points to something potentially attacking their neurological systems.
The cause of the deaths was yet to be established.
Samples have been collected and sent to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Canada for testing.

Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Botswana does not believe that the elephants were killed by poachers because the animals were found with tusks intact.
Since 2007, Africa has lost 144,000 elephants, primarily due to the ivory poaching crisis