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*"Kill Them", Mat' North Villagers Speak On Culling Elephants*

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Villagers from Matabeleland North Province, home to Zimbabwe’s largest game park, have welcomed the government’s recent announcement to cull 200 elephants to provide protein to starving communities.

Residents who spoke to VicFallsLive said the decision to cull the elephants was commendable as the elephants frequently stray into settlements, causing significant crop damage and, in some cases, posing a threat to human life.

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They view the culling as a necessary measure to address both food security and the challenges posed by these animals. Councillor from Mabale, Eugene Sibanda from Ward 17 said:

> We’re tired of the destruction they have done in our communities, they are now too many so their decision to kill is welcomed. When will this happen?

Lenziwe Nyoni from Kamativi stated that elephants should be culled, revealing that a jumbo killed her father in 2013. She said:

> We want compensation and justice. They should kill them.

Elizabeth Thebe, a subsistence farmer from Chief Mvuthu in Hwange bemoaned the destruction caused by elephants in her village. She said:

> They’re not our cows. We’re scared to move around, and they destroy our fields. If the owners want to kill them, that’s alright. They should kill them.

Daniel Sithole from Green Shango Environmental Trust said while they respect international laws on wildlife, people’s rights should come first.

The proposal to cull elephants in Zimbabwe follows Namibia’s recently announced plans to cull 723 wild animals including 83 elephants.

Both the two southern African countries cited drought which has negatively affected vegetation and water, as well as the need to feed communities facing food shortages, as reasons for the cull.

Environment, Water and Climate Minister Sithembiso Nyoni recently told VOA that the meat will provide nutrition to villagers. She said:

> We are having a discussion with ZimParks and some communities to do what Namibia has done so that we can cull the elephants and mobilise the women to maybe dry the meat, package it, and ensure that it gets to some communities that need the protein.

> The Ministry is working very hard to ensure that within the confines of the law, we can cull what is allowed for us to cull and be able to input into the Presidential feeding schemes to provide the protein.

Elephants and their habitats are protected by international conventions. These include the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), the African Elephant Action Plan (AEAP), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement.

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