HARARE, Zimbabwe — Elephants are under threat from poachers in Zimbabwe, where the population has plummeted in the wildlife sanctuaries and hunting reserves that are home to most of the animals, according to a conservation group.
The number of elephants in the northern Sebungwe district fell to 4,000 last year from 13,000 in 2001, while in Middle Zambezi Valley the population declined to 11,500 from 18,000, according to the Zambezi Society. In Hwange National Park, in western Zimbabwe, the population climbed by a “statistically insignificant” 10 percent to 54,000, the society said.
“The message for the rest of the Zambezi Valley is clear — poaching is rife and we need to do something about it,” the organization said on Wednesday in an emailed statement from the capital, Harare.
In July, wildlife officials in Zimbabwe requested the U.S. reverse a ban on ivory imports it implemented a year ago, citing concerns about the sustainability of the country’s elephant population. Zimbabwe’s elephant-hunting industry generates $14 million a year and helps control the population of 97,500 species that trample over trees and farmers’ fields, according to the country’s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
