Bhubaneswar: African nation Namibia, which is now facing a severe drought, has decided to cull over 700 wild animals, including elephants and zebras, to feed its people.

The Namibian authorities have decided to cull altogether 723 animals including 83 elephants, 30 hippopotamuses, 60 buffalos, 50 impalas, 100 blue wildebeests, 300 zebras and 100 elands to provide meat to around 1.4 million people in the country.

More than 150 wild animals have already been killed by the public authorities and the carcasses have yielded about 63 tonnes of meat, reports said.

“This exercise is necessary and is in line with our constitutional mandate where our natural resources are used for the benefit of Namibian citizens,” said the country’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism recently.

The authorities also fear that the drought will force the wild animals to stray into human settlements in search of food and water, causing widespread man-animal conflicts.

Namibia is home to significant number of wild animals, including 24,000 elephants, one of the largest jumbo populations in the world.

The Namibian government hopes that culling of some animals would reduce the effect of the drought on wildlife.

It is worth mentioning here that wild animals including zebras, blue wildebeests and impalas are commonly eaten by the people in the southern African region.

The United Nations Environment Programme in Africa reportedly supported the Namibian government by saying that “well-managed and sustainable harvesting of healthy wild animal populations can be a precious source of food for communities”.

Several countries in the southern Africa including Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia have been grappling with a severe drought in the recent days. The calamity has affected over 30 million people in the region.

Media reports claimed that staple crops have dried up, large numbers of livestock have perished and almost 84 per cent of Namibia’s food reserves are exhausted due to the drought.

Notably, the Centre had brought around two dozen cheetahs from South Africa and Namibia to reintroduce the species in Indian forests.  

(Note: This story is a part of Punascha Pruthibi - One Earth. Unite for it', an awareness campaign by Sambad Digital)