10/3/2020 Zimbabwe suspects bacterial disease behind elephant deaths - CNN

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Zimbabwe suspects bacterial disease behind elephant deaths
Story by Reuters
 Updated 1448 GMT (2248 HKT) September 30, 2020

File photo of an elephant in a national park in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe suspects a bacterial disease called hemorrhagic septicemia is behind the recent deaths of more than
30 elephants but is doing further tests to make sure, the parks authority said.

The elephant deaths, which began in late August, come soon after hundreds of elephants died in neighboring
Botswana in mysterious circumstances.

O cials in Botswana were initially at a loss to explain the elephant deaths there but have since blamed toxins
produced by another type of bacterium.

Experts say Botswana and Zimbabwe could be home to

roughly half of the continent's 400,000 elephants, often
targeted by poachers.

Elephants in Botswana and parts of Zimbabwe are at

historically high levels, but elsewhere on the continent --
especially in forested areas -- many populations are severely
depleted, said Chris Thouless, head of research at Save the
Elephants.

"Higher populations equal greater risk from infectious

diseases," Thouless told Reuters, adding that climate change
could put pressure on elephant populations as water supplies

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10/3/2020 Zimbabwe suspects bacterial disease behind elephant deaths - CNN

Related Article: Toxins in water blamed diminish and temperatures rise, potentially increasing the
World probability of pathogen outbreaks.
for deaths of hundreds of elephants in
Botswana Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority Director-
General Fulton Mangwanya told a parliamentary committee
on Monday that so far 34 dead elephants had been counted.

"It is unlikely that this disease alone will have any serious overall impact on the survival of the elephant population,"
he said. "The northwest regions of Zimbabwe have an over-abundance of elephants and this outbreak of disease is
probably a manifestation of that ... particularly in the hot, dry season elephants are stressed by competition for
water and food resources."

Postmortems on some of the dead elephants showed inflamed livers and other organs, Mangwanya said. The
elephants were found lying on their stomachs, suggesting a sudden death.

Vernon Booth, a Zimbabwe-based wildlife management consultant, told Reuters it was di cult to put a number on
Zimbabwe's current elephant population. He estimated it could be close to 90,000, up from 82,000 in 2014 when
the last national survey was conducted, assuming that roughly 2,000-3,000 have died each year from all causes.

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