Namibia is planning to kill more than 700 big game animals, including elephants, zebras and hippos, to feed people affected by the country’s worst drought in a century.
Professional hunters will cull animals in national parks where there are “sustainable game numbers”, the country’s ministry of environment, forestry and tourism said.
The list of animals to be killed includes 83 elephants, 30 hippos, 60 buffalo, 50 impalas, 100 blue wildebeest and 300 zebras.
The ministry said the cull would focus on parks where they believed animal numbers exceed available grazing and water.
Farmers across southern Africa from Zambia to Mozambique suffered the worst dry spell in more than a century during the middle of their growing season earlier this year.
The drought led to the death of livestock and produced a three million-ton shortfall of maize, a staple food in the region.
The United Nations World Food Programme is currently seeking 290,000 tons of maize from as far afield as Mexico and Ukraine, the organisation’s biggest drought response yet in southern Africa.
Namibia declared a state of emergency in May as the impact of the drought worsened. An estimated 1.4 million people, around half the population, were expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity.
The ministry said the cull was already underway, and hunters had killed more than 150 animals, providing more than 125,000lb (57,000kg) of meat.
“This exercise is necessary and in line with our constitutional mandate, where our natural resources are used for the benefit of Namibian citizens,” the ministry said.
“This is also a prime example that conservation of game is really beneficial. We are happy that we can assist the country in this very difficult time and when it is absolutely needed.”
Namibia decided last year that it needed to cull elephant numbers because the animals are increasingly in conflict with people for space and resources in rural areas.
Such conflicts can increase during droughts when animals searching for food and water come into contact with humans.
Climate scientists said this year’s drought was driven by one of the strongest recorded El Nino weather patterns. The natural phenomenon is caused by fluctuating surface water temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Relief may be on the way for the region, however. The Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum said this week there was an increased probability of normal, or above normal, rainfall from October to March in Botswana, central Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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