Botswana the home to a third of Africa's declining elephant population witnessed a bizzare turn of events as more than 350 elephant carcasses n the Okavango Delta since the start of May. The experts have called it a a “conservation disaster;” and the local government has not yet been able to test tissue samples due to logistical difficulties stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. “This is a mass die-off on a level that hasn’t been seen in a very, very long time. Outside of drought, I don’t know of a die-off that has been this significant,” said Dr. Niall McCann, the director of conservation at UK-based charity National Park Rescue.
Over the years poachers have reduced Africa’s total elephant population the total number of elephants on the continent dropped by an alarming 30% between 2007 and 2014, according to an 18-country aerial elephant count conducted by Elephants Without Borders. Botswana is home to more than 130,000 elephants. There are about 15,000 elephants in the Okavango Delta. In 2014, president Ian Khama instituted a ban on big-game hunting in Botswana. That ban was lifted in 2019, allowing sport hunters to kill elephants.