Zimbabwe Considers Mass Elephant Killing, First Time Since 1988

Zimbabwe is considering the mass killing of elephants, known as culling, for the first time since 1988 to reduce the 100,000 strong population of the animals.

The government of Zimbabwe, which has the world’s second-largest population of elephants after neighboring Botswana, maintains that the large number of the animals is leading to destruction of habitat needed by other species and an increasing number of dangerous human-elephant interactions. Adult elephants can eat 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of vegetation a day and often strip bark from trees, killing them.