Hundreds of elephants have died mysteriously in Botswana’s famed Okavango Delta, the wildlife department said, ruling out poaching as the tusks were found intact.

The landlocked southern African country has the world’s largest elephant population, estimated to be around 130,000.

“We have had a report of 356 dead elephants in the area north of the Okavango Delta and we have confirmed 275 so far. We have no reason to dispute the numbers reported and we are continuing to verify reports,” Cyril  Taolo, the department’s acting director, said

The department of wildlife and national parks said it is mobilising human personnel and aircraft to better understand the “mysterious deaths.” Samples have been collected for analysis at labs in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Canada.

Reason for deaths unknown

The sudden mass deaths of elephants, which scientists have called a conservation disaster, were first spotted during an aerial survey in early May.

The government and conservationists ruled out poaching at an early stage because the carcasses have been found intact, with their tusks on. Africa’s overall elephant population is declining due to poaching, but Botswana has been an exception, with elephant numbers growing to 130,000 from 80,000 in the late 1990s.

The number of elephants died have since risen to over 350, most of them close to watering holes which have prompted suggestions that they might have died from poisoning. But other scientists pointed out that if the water was indeed poisoned, it would have killed other animals as well.

Anthrax, an infectious disease caused by spore-forming bacteria, sometimes affects wildlife in Botswana. But government veterinary experts say samples taken from the dead animals in the Okavango Panhandle did not contain traces of anthrax.

Some of the elephants we observed were moving about in circles in a kind of semi-conscious way before just falling down and perishing instantly, a report said. Scientists believe that there might be a neurological cause for the deaths because of this.

Authorities in Botswana, home to a third of Africa’s declining elephant population, are struggling to send samples for analysis to international agencies to determine the cause of the deaths due to the lack of flights because of the COVID-19 lockdown in the region.

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