Namibia’s Mass Wildlife Cull – Aug/Sept 2024

… followed by Zimbabwe’s elephant cull

On 26 August 2024 the Namibian government announced it was carrying out a mass cull of megafauna, with the majority of shooting taking place inside five of the country’s protected national parks.

The cull is for 740 wild animals including 100 endangered elephants (increased from 83), 300 zebras, 30 hippos, 60 buffaloes, 50 impalas, 100 eland, and 100 wildebeest. By the time of the press release, 157 animals had already been killed.

The government claims the move is necessary to feed people affected by the drought.  However the distribution of the animals’ meat only appears to benefit those in important voting areas ahead of the election, not those suffering from the greatest hunger.  Statistics suggest the percentage of population affected by drought is among the lowest in the region.  Many see the cull as a cynical ploy by the corrupt government to gain votes, eliminate 100 elephants (which are seen as a constant problem and threat), and serve the interests of the hunting industry by allowing trophy hunters to take part in the shooting (sales for cull hunts are advertised). The government also gains a fresh quantity of tusks to add to its ivory stockpile (Namibia is pressing to reopen ivory trade, along with other southern African countries.)

Some warned that if the scheme were allowed to proceed it would set a dangerous precedent which would lead to similar schemes on an even bigger scale in other countries across the continent. This prediction very soon proved right when on 12 September Zimbabwe announced it would cull 200 elephants. In response, Farai Maguwu, director of Zimbabwe’s Center for Natural Resource Governance, called this decision ‘ill-conceived and very unfortunate’.

‘Officializing the killing of elephants, I think, is one of the most disastrous decisions ever made in the history of conservation. It puts an abrupt end to all the conservation efforts the government has invested so much in for the past three decades. It’s going to open the floodgates to poaching.’
Farai Maguwu, director of Zimbabwe’s Center for Natural Resource Governance

Soon after, the director of Zimbabwe’s parks authority, charged with protecting wildlife for tourism and future generations, said, ‘Kill one elephant and they [the West] make noise … You want to sell the ivory, they make noise … If we count 200 and we find it’s not enough, we have got every sovereign right to kill more.’

Yet despite the dire warnings, other countries have remained silent or condoned the culls (as did the UK).

Zimbabwe’s and Namibia’s leaders are using a long-established playbook of various strategies to reduce the number of elephants, including capturing and selling baby elephants to zoos, maximising hunting, carrying out culls, and other schemes. (See graphic below.) None of these are conservation strategies. Instead, culls and other killings provide tusks for the government’s huge ivory stockpile.

The sources below, starting with the statement from African conservationists, examine the true causes behind this unfolding wildlife disaster and offer solutions that would address human hunger and also save wildlife.

NEW: Southern Africa’s wildlife war – a deep-dive resource looking at both sides of the debate

Namibia Mass Wildlife Cull – African Conservationists’ Response

CNRG STATEMENT ON ELEPHANT CULLING opposition to culls from Zimbabwe’s Centre for Natural Resource Governance

Zimbabwe under fire for ‘ill-conceived’ plan to cull elephants for drought relief Jeffrey Moyo

Conservationists condemn Namibia’s plan to cull 723 wildlife amidst drought – MEFT responds  Africa Geographic

Conservationists decry drought-hit Namibia’s plan to cull national park wild animals for meat  Don Pinnock

South Sudan and Namibia are poles apart in their treatment of African wildlife protection Christiaan Bakkes

Namibia to slaughter more than 80 elephants as protesters call it a ‘colossal disaster’  Jane Dalton

Namibia’s alarming plan to cull elephants and other wildlife is ‘an abdication of responsibility  Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)

Statement from PREN  (Pro Elephant Network)

Namibia: Why Is Namibia Going to Kill its Endangered Desert Elephants?  Adam Cruise

This graphic from accredited sources on the ground in Africa shows some of the ways that African governments profit from the last elephants. The current culls in Namibia and Zimbabwe are right out of this playbook to decrease elephant numbers .

Photos: Federico Veronesi