Mugabe orders cull of elephants to feed starving villagers By Basildon Peta in Johannesburg 28 April 2005
Fresh from his disputed victory in Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections, President Robert Mugabe has turned his sights on the country's wildlife reserves in a bid to feed thousands of malnourished villagers.
Zimbabwe's national parks have been ordered to work with rural district councils to begin the wholesale slaughter of big game. National park rangers said they had already shot 10 elephants in the past week. The meat was barbecued at festivities to mark 25 years of independence. Four of the animals were reportedly shot in view of tourists near Lake Kariba, the largest man-made lake in Africa and a major wildlife haven.
Five years after ordering white-owned farms to be confiscated, the Mugabe regime has turned a country once known as the breadbasket of Africa into a famished land. An estimated 4 million rural poor suffer from food shortages.
The wildlife directive is a major blow to efforts by conservationists to rehabilitate a wildlife sector devastated by Mr Mugabe's confiscation policy. The chaotic farm invasions saw party militants storming into conservation areas - private and state-owned - to slaughter animals. Unscrupulous South African hunters also joined in the looting, paying hefty kickbacks to politicians to go into conservation areas and shoot lions, leopards and cheetahs for trophies.
