Botswana probes mysterious death of 12 elephants
Botswana is probing the mysterious deaths of a dozen elephants in the country's famed Okavango Delta, the tourism ministry said Tuesday, ruling out poaching as the animals' valuable tusks weren't missing.
The landlocked southern African country which boasts the world's most significant elephant population said 12 carcasses have been discovered in the last week in two villages in the northwest of the country.
"Up to now, veterinary officers have ruled out the probability of poaching because all carcasses of the elephants were found intact," Oduetse Koboto, the tourism ministry's acting long lasting secretary, said in a statement.
A search is under way for more dead pachyderms.
In October 2019, Botswana reported that more than 100 elephants died from a suspected anthrax outbreak.
Preliminary investigations then suggested the jumbos were dying from anthrax whilst some died from the consequences of drought.
With unfenced parks and wide-open spaces, Botswana gets the world's largest elephant population, boasting a lot more than 135,000 animals -- in regards to a third of the African continent's total.
Leading conservation Elephants Without Borders last year warned of surging elephant poaching in elements of Botswana, estimating that practically 400 were killed in the united states in 2017 and 2018.
In February this year the government auctioned off seven elephant hunting licenses after it controversially lifted a hunting ban saying the move wouldn't normally threaten the elephant population.
The hunting season was likely to open in April nonetheless it was placed on hold as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. -- AFP
