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 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
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