Namibia, a small Southern African nation, intends to cull 723 of its most iconic wild animals, including elephants, hippos, and zebras, to supply meat to 1.4 million citizens — almost half of the population — who are facing food insecurity due to the worst drought in decades.
In a press release, the country’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism announced that 83 elephants, 300 zebras, 30 hippos,100 blue wildebeest, 50 impalas, 60 buffaloes, and 100 elands will be butchered. It said:
“the culling will be carried out by professional hunters in national parks and communal areas with sustainable wildlife numbers”.
The ministry noted that the culling was “in line with their constitutional mandate to use natural resources for the benefit of Namibian citizens”.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase, from July to September 2024, 1.15 million Namibians, or 38% of its population, faced acute food insecurity, almost double that in 2023. Last month, United Nations spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said, “84% of Namibia’s food reserves are already exhausted”.
The release added that the meat was mainly intended for badly-hit communities, especially in rural areas.
The decision was made after Namibia declared a state of emergency in May as the drought became unprecedentedly severe. The officials said that the plan would provide food to citizens and reduce competition for water resources and grazing areas where wildlife numbers exceed those available.
The animals are not just being killed for food. Namibia also intends to reduce potential cases of human-wildlife conflicts, which are expected to increase during the drought as animals migrate to human habitats in search of food and water. The ministry will target culling elephants in areas such as these since Namibia is among the South African countries with the highest elephant population. Botswana, Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Namibia account for about half of the African bush elephant population.
“To this effect, the government will cull 83 elephants from identified conflict areas, and meat will be allocated to the drought relief program,” the press release stated.
The ministry said about 157 animals have already been culled and had provided at least 63 tons of meat.
This approach is not new. According to a Namibian government report on game meat, people eat at least one of the animals listed on the cull list, including impala and zebra. Game meat is popular in the wild and is allowed to be consumed.
Rose Mwebaza, the director of the United Nations Environment Programme, told the New York Times:
“Provided the harvesting of these animals is done using scientifically proven, sustainable methods that consider animal welfare and are in line with both domestic and international commitments and legislation, there should be no cause for concern.”
Nevertheless, conservationists believe that this approach establishes a risky trend of depending on wildlife to resolve human issues, which would not be sustainable in terms of reducing food insecurity. They argue that killing wild animals will create an ongoing demand for game meat thus harming Namibia’s biodiversity.
As this article was being edited, Zimbabwe’s Environment Ministry announced that this country will follow Namibia’s example and cull 200 elephants in a bid to mitigate hunger amidst an ongoing unprecedented drought.
“We are having a discussion with ZimParks and some communities to do what Namibia has done so that we can cull the elephants and mobilize women to maybe dry the meat, package it, and ensure that it gets to some communities that need the protein,” Minister Sithembiso Nyoni told Voice of America.
