in recent weeks we've been hearing
alarming news from the African continent
more than 350 elephants have been found
dead in Botswana in the past two months
it seems that some of the animals
suddenly fell to their sides or simply
collapsed while walking but why exactly
the elephants are dying is still a
mystery
what's Juana's elephant population is
the highest in the world the country in
southern Africa is home to more than a
hundred and thirty thousand individuals
which amounts to one third of the
world's remaining population but
elephants there have been dying in
unexplained circumstances since spring
conservationists say they've recorded
dead elephants of all ages and sexes the
animals looked confused with some just
walking in circles and others falling
flat on their faces before they died
nothing like this has ever been seen
before
but let's take a closer look at what's
happened so far in March 20 2002 Stella
Fionn started dying in northern Botswana
on may 25th a group of conservationists
were flying over the Okavango Delta when
they noticed something disturbing a
hundred and sixty nine dead elephants
two days later officials visited the
area to take samples for testing could
be infectious diseases and these
infectious diseases can be further
complicated by environmental factors as
Botswana doesn't currently have testing
capacities itself the government said
they would send the samples to
laboratories in Zimbabwe South Africa
and Canada conservationists took a
second flight in June and revealed more
carcasses bringing the total number up
to 356
On June 19th a Facebook post on botswana
safari news carried a statement from
wildlife coordinator Dima katsu and
Chabot saying that samples had been
taken and were being sent abroad so far
only one set of samples has arrived at
the lab according to the government the
corona virus crisis has delayed some of
the samples leaving the country on July
10th Botswana said it had received test
results from samples sent to Zimbabwe
but is waiting for more results from
South Africa before sharing the findings
with the public although Botswana's
government vets are highly qualified
critics want to know why everything is
taking so long
testing of this kind needs a documented
chain of custody which ensures the
samples origin at every stage and
depending on what the scientists are
looking for the samples might already be
too old by the time they arrive at the
lab as test results are still
outstanding
the biggest question hasn't been
answered yet why are all these elephants
dying conservationist dr. nyle McCann
explained what could be behind the
deaths anthrax killed at least 100
elephants in Botswana last year the
bacterium that causes the anthrax
disease called bacillus anthracis occurs
naturally in soils where it can stay
inactive as spores for decades grazing
animals can ingest anthrax tainted soils
along with plants or while drinking only
that would kill lots of things not just
animals this is only in it's probably
not
these of some kind and I think that's
that's quite likely because diseases can
be very species specific it could be
something that is totally benign one
species but then I invariably another as
we've just witnessed became at 19 just
hope you find in bats not greater people
as we're all living through and then the
third theory is this is a poison of
summons law either put down by poachers
to try and kill the elephants for ivory
elephants are seen as a threat by some
farmers because they eat their crops
they put poison in water holes or fruits
where the elephants will consume it at
the moment scavenging animals don't
appear to be dying near the carcasses
which is a sign that if poison is to
blame it's probably a new one different
length of time available in a few days
later the government knew that this was
happening back in May and the samples
only arrived at the first laboratory
last week so lag taken to them arriving
at a lab testing some people have also
speculated that chemical pesticides
could have caused the elephant's deaths
in spring a large part of Africa
including Botswana was hit by swarms of
millions of desert locusts to limit the
damage caused by the insects chemical
pesticides were sprayed widely but
experts say that negative effects from
pesticides would also have harmed other
animals
but at the moment all these theories are
only speculation in reality nobody knows
yet why the elephants in Botswana are
dying due to the fact that the carcasses
still had their tusks butts Juana's
government has already ruled out
poaching but conservationists are
warning against ruling anything out to
solve the mystery it's essential that a
team of independent experts should also
be allowed to visit and sample the
carcasses steps like this need to be
taken before any more elephants can die
or the cause spills over into the local
human population whatever the outcome
will be if there is one at all one thing
is for certain we are seeing carnage
among the elephant population of
Botswana right now and it's causing
long-term trauma to the ones who have
somehow survived this tragedy
[Music]
hi there I'm healthy from Kalamata I
hope today our video could shed some
light on the current situation in
Botswana we definitely want to do a
follow-up so subscribe to our Channel
and stay tuned