http://allafrica.com/stories/201210030436.html


Zimbabwe: 19 Jumbos Die


3 October 2012


At least 19 elephants and two rhinos have died at Hwange National Park due to lack of water as the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe battles to raise US$100 000 to avert more deaths. The elephants died at Bumbusi, Mandavu, Masuna, Sinamatella, Robins and Main Camp. The authority's spokesperson Mrs Caroline Washaya-Moyo confirmed the deaths yesterday, saying there was a water shortage in the park.

"This is as a result of the increase in temperatures that has accelerated the rate of evaporation of water from the holding pans. Pressure on the water holes is also increasing owing to an increase in wildlife frequenting the watering points. This has obviously created a situation whereby pumped water is not adequate for game during the late dry season," she said.

Ms Washaya-Moyo said Robins and Sinamatella camps had witnessed an influx of the key wildlife species presumably from neighbouring Botswana. She said the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority was facing serious financial challenges.

"If disaster is to be averted in Hwange National Park, the authority urgently needs to be availed with resources to the tune of US$100 000, an amount the authority is currently unable to raise," she said.

Ms Washaya-Moyo said a meeting with 23 stakeholders was scheduled for tomorrow at Main Camp to solicit for help.

Sad.

I'm sure PETA, the Humane Society, The World Wildlife Fund, Or maybe Lionaide will step up to the plate and donate the $100,000.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
I'm sure PETA, the Humane Society, The World Wildlife Fund, Or maybe Lionaide will step up to the plate and donate the $100,000.

WWF isn't all bad. The rest are a bunch of worthless SOBs. Sad story.

Brett

maybe the new landowners in the Save can step up and donate the needed funds- after all they are definitely interested in the long term survival of Zimbabwe's wildlife, otherwise they wouldn't be in the safari business. it's pretty damn obvious that the white folks that live/ hunt there are the cause of the problem...

Elephants and rhinos die as fuel runs out
http://www.scotsman.com/

Published on Thursday 4 October 2012 00:49

At LEAST 19 elephants and two rhinos have died of thirst as temperatures
soar in Zimbabwe’s largest national park.

Conservationists yesterday warned more could die after president Robert
Mugabe’s side of the government said it did not have the money to fix or buy
fuel for the pumps needed to bring water to the surface in Hwange National
Park, 8,000 square miles of wilderness in the west of the country close to
the Kalahari desert.

Caroline Washaya-Moyo, for the state-run parks and wildlife management
authority, said it was facing “serious financial challenges” and blamed
accelerated evaporation rates for the water shortages.

But Johnny Rodrigues, of the independent Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce,
said: “It’s a man-made disaster. You can’t blame the animals and you can’t
blame drought. It’s poor management and lack of foresight. We can expect a
lot of deaths.”

Elephants regularly cross into Hwange from Botswana at this time of year to
look for water. More than 100 died of thirst in the park in October and
November last year. However, this is the first time rhino deaths have also
been reported. The park is home to both black and white rhinos. It was not
known which type had died.

Zimbabwe’s rhino population is already under threat from poachers who kill
one or two a month. There are now only around 400 black and 280 white rhinos
left in Zimbabwe, compared to 20,000 in neighbouring South Africa. The horn
is shipped to Asia where it is used in traditional medicine.

Mr Rodrigues said the authorities “should have been pumping water from
April” and warned that elephants would break down trees in the driest areas
as they tried to find moisture.

Carrying capacity for elephants in Hwange is about 20,000 and there are around 55,000 elephants in the park. Too many animals for the amount of water available.

If I remember correctly we had the same issue last year and I believe the Sultan of Quatar? stepped up and provided the $$$

quote:

If disaster is to be averted in Hwange National Park, the authority urgently needs to be availed with resources to the tune of US$100 000, an amount the authority is currently unable to raise," she said.

Why is it that Africans always want someone else to solve their problems for them? How hard is it to figure out that you have an over population of elephants (a marketable commodity) and you need some $$. Sell 10 permits for elephant hunts for $10K each and your problem is solved.

Now come on..THAT would make sense now, would'nt it.

Elephants die of thirst
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Hwange National Park has been hit by a critical water shortage which has
resulted in the death of 17 elephants.
08.10.12

by Zwanai Sithole
Harare

The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson, Caroline
Washaya-Moyo, said in a statement that the current hot season has resulted
in an increase in high temperatures which has accelerated the rate of
evaporation of water from the holding pans.

Pressure on the few remaining water holes is also increasing owing to an
increase in wildlife frequenting the watering points.

“This situation has obviously created a situation whereby pumped water is
not adequate for game during the dry season. Water demand in the national
park appears to be outstripping supply during the hot season,” said Washaya
Moyo.

She said the parks, particularly Robins and Sinamatela camps, have already
seen an influx of other wildlife species from neighboring Botswana.

Washaya-Moyo said her organization was appealing for financial assistance to
avert a disaster in the park, similar to the devastating draught of 1992
where thousands of wildlife species died of thirst in the vast national
park.

On Thursday last week, parks officials held a meeting with stakeholders at
the Main Camp to try and solicit help for the dying elephants.

The stakeholders that have been engaged include Wildlife Environment
Zimbabwe, which has already offered a dam scooper and a tractor. They have
so far done three pans and these are Libingi, Makwa and Kennedy 1 and work
is still in progress at other sites.

About 80 elephants succumbed to thirst last year in the park, which recorded
a total of 35 deaths. She said the authority needs urgent assistance towards
the resuscitation of borehole engines while the engines require constant
repairs.

Main camp has a total of 39 boreholes, 32 diesel, two solar, four wind and
one submersible while Sinamatela has eight boreholes, five diesel, two
solar, four wind.

Robins Camp has two boreholes and both use diesel. Wildlife conservationists
have also warned that Presidential elephants in Hwange Safari Lodge face a
similar predicament .

Most of the animal drinking pans in the area have run out of water. The
conservationists in the area have accused Hwange Safari lodge management of
neglecting the watering pans and the area where the special presidential
herd roam freely. The lodge which is owned by Dawn properties is being
leased by African Sun.

Hwange National Park has an estimated population of 45 000 elephants against
a carrying capacity of 30 000.

Maybe some of that diamond money that the big boys are stashing away for themselves could be used to help some of their own wildlife. The United States isn't an unlimited, deep pocket for the rest of the world.