Namibia, a nation in southern Africa, has proposed its dramatic and controversial decision to slaughter its majestic animals in thousands to provide for some of the 1.4 million people – that is nearly half the country’s population – who are facing famine due to the worst drought in 100 years.
In terms of the operation, country shall kill 723 wild animals including 83 elephants “For people feeding purposes” as, “necessary” and “constitutional where use of natural resources is for good of the citizens of the country” so said the country’s ministry of environment, forestry and tourism in a news release.
Such a policy is not likely to raise any eyebrows. Well-managed, sustainable harvesting of healthy wild animal populations is a valuable source of food for communities,” Rose Mwebaza of the UN Environment Programme Africa Office said in an email.
Drought is hitting many parts of southern Africa. More than 30 million people in the region were reported as affected, as of June, by the precision airlift provided by the UN World Food Program. “There is no food,” Juliane Zeidler, country director of the international non-profit World Wildlife Fund in Namibia claimed.
The drought is stripping the region of its staple crops and causing the deaths of livestock prompting Namibia to turn to its wildlife and see if there are in fact animals that can serve as food.
The animals are not only hunted and used for consumption purpose. Namibia is trying to curb such interactions, which it said would grow in the period of drought, when both animals and human populations would look for water and foliage, as well.
The situation is quite serious. A week ago, a spokesperson for the United Nations said that, 84%, that is, the figure of the available food resources of Namibia “are already expended.”
Namibia’s focus on wild animals is not new. People in the region eat at least some of the animals, included in the environmental ministry’s cull list such as zebra, blue wildebeest, impala as reported by a paper on Namibia game meat industry published by the government’s information services.
