Botswana elephant deaths

Many of you have reached out to us in recent days expressing your concern over the unexplained deaths of elephants in Botswana. Here is a summary of what is known and the likely avenues of investigation.

Approximately 400 elephants have died in Botswana since the first reported death in March of this year, the cause of these deaths is not known and appears to only be affecting elephants. Most deaths have been reported near the village of Seronga in the north of the Okavango Delta. Most carcasses (approx 70%) have been found near water.

The elephants have not been shot and the carcasses have been found with their tusks intact, therefore poaching has been ruled out.

The elephants appear to be dying quickly with some elephants found in an upright position, which is often the case with Anthrax. Anthrax is caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis found naturally in soil and affects domestic and wild animals around the world. Outbreaks of anthrax usually occur at the end of the dry season. Whilst Botswana has suffered a drought recently, it has since had good rains so this is unlikely to be the cause.

Poisoning,  by blue-green algae or cyanobacteria, blooms in water or by humans could cause sudden deaths to otherwise healthy elephants, but we would expect to see other species, particularly scavengers which feed on their carcasses, dying. So far, this has not been observed.

A study during the ’90s of unexplained elephant deaths in the Kruger National Park in South Africa concluded that encephalomyocarditis-virus was the culprit, which as the name suggests affects the heart and brain and brings on sudden death. In the Kruger most elephants that died were male.

Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses cause fatal hemorrhagic disease in mostly young Asian elephants. Related viruses are found in African elephants, but are generally benign.

Thus, at this stage, it would seem likely that the deaths are caused by either a bacterial or viral infection, but until conclusive laboratory results confirm the cause of death this is still speculation.

We wish the Department of Wildlife and National Parks every success with their ongoing investigations.

To listen to our Founder & Director discussing this topic with the BBC World Service Newshour click here