Human, wildlife conflict escalating

FOR years, human and wildlife in Kariba have coexisted in peace.

However, as wildlife populations, especially elephants, continues to rise, conflict between humans and wildlife has escalated, resuscitating calls for a review of the laws governing the management of elephants, whose population currently exceeds the country’s carrying capacity.

More than 50 people were killed by wild animals in 2022, underscoring the magnitude of the dangers posed by wildlife to humans.

People are also attacking animals, which are destroying their crops.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) spokesperson Tinashe Farawo attributed human and wildlife conflict to the rising wildlife populations.

“We are overpopulated when it comes to elephants in this country,” he told CAJ News Africa. “We have similar problems in Hurungwe, Hwange, Masvingo and Mbire, among others.

“In fact, these problems will persist as long as elephant population is higher than we can carry at the moment,” Farawo said.

Zimbabwe, alongside Botswana and Zambia, has lobbied for a review of the laws governing the management of the elephants.

Zimbabwe has the continent’s second-largest elephant population after Botswana, which boasts about a third of Africa’s 415 000 elephants.

Authorities maintain that the growing elephant population also poses a risk to other animals which may succumb to habitat loss caused by large herds of such animals as elephants.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which regulates the movement of elephants in Africa and Asia for commercial and non-commercial purposes, has maintained a tight rein on the trade in elephants and ivory. This followed a decline in the elephant population due to poaching of ivory in the 1990s.