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Zimbabwe Joins Botswana in Blaming Bacteria for Elephant Deaths

Zimbabwe Joins Botswana in Blaming Bacteria for Elephant Deaths

Zimbabwe has attributed the deaths of 34 elephants to bacteria, joining neighboring Botswana, which ended six months of speculation when it found that over 330 of the animals had died after drinking water contaminated with cyanobacteria.

Zimbabwe has the world’s second-biggest elephant population after Botswana. Together more than 200,000 of the animals live in the two countries.

“The U.K. government offered to help us and we sent samples to them for further tests,” said Tinashe Farawo, spokesman for Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, in an interview. “Our own tests indicated that it was a bacteria that led to the deaths.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.