Namibia is planning to kill more than 700 wild animals, including elephants, zebras and hippos, and distribute the meat to the people struggling with food insecurity as the country grapples with its worst drought in 100 years.
The animals set to be culled include 83 elephants, 30 hippos, 60 buffalo, 50 impala, 100 blue wildebeest and 300 zebras, the country’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism announced Monday.
They will come from national parks and communal areas with “sustainable game numbers” and will be killed by professional hunters, the ministry said in a press release.
The aim of the program is to help alleviate the impacts of drought in the southwest African country, the ministry said.
Namibia declared a state of emergency in May as the impacts of drought worsened. An estimated 1.4 million people — around half the population — are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity.
The culling program will take pressure off water resources by reducing wildlife in areas where their numbers “exceed available grazing and water,” the ministry said.
It also aims to reduce the potential for conflicts between elephants and humans, which can increase during drought when animals’ search for food and water can bring them into contact with people.
“To this effect, 83 elephants from identified conflict areas will be culled, (and) meat will be allocated to the drought relief programme,” the ministry said.
Southern Africa is a stronghold for elephants, home to more than 200,000. These animals have also been negatively affected by drought, with hundreds believed to have died across the region last year as their water sources dried up.
Meat from other animals set to be killed will also be distributed to those struggling with hunger, according to the ministry, which pointed to people living in rural areas as being particularly affected.
More than 150 animals have already been killed, providing more than 125,000 pounds of meat, the ministry said.
“We are happy that we can assist the country in this very difficult time and when its absolutely needed,” it said.
Some have criticized the government’s plan, however.
It risks “setting a dangerous precedent of reliance on wildlife populations to solve human problems,” said Keith Lindsay, a conservation biologist and natural resources consultant.
Looking to wildlife to alleviate food insecurity in emergency situations is “very likely to lead to a more regular, ongoing demand for bushmeat that would be unsustainable,” he told CNN. Wild animals are much more susceptible than domestic livestock to changing seasonal conditions as well as the impacts of the climate crisis, he added.
Lindsay also cast doubt on the idea that the program would reduce conflict between elephants and humans, given the scattered locations for the elephants set to be killed.
Namibia is one of several countries across southern Africa struggling with devastating drought driven by El Niño — a natural climate pattern which has led to sharply reduced rainfall in the region — and exacerbated by the human-caused climate crisis.
A dearth of rain combined with scorching temperatures has led to shriveled crops and soaring levels of hunger for tens of millions of people in the region.
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