Hundreds of Elephants have been reported dead in Botswana, according to BBC reports.
While many have described the unusual deaths as “completely unprecedented”, Dr Niall McCann said colleagues in the southern African country had spotted more than 350 elephant carcasses in the Okavango Delta since the start of May.
Investigations done reveals that no one knows why the animals are dying, with lab results on samples still weeks away, according to the government.
While speaking with BBC, Dr McCann, of the UK-based charity National Park Rescue, said local conservationists first alerted the government in early May, after they undertook a flight over the delta.
“They spotted 169 in a three-hour flight,” he said. “To be able to see and count that many in a three-hour flight was extraordinary.
“A month later, further investigations identified many more carcasses, bringing the total to over 350.”
“This is totally unprecedented in terms of numbers of elephants dying in a single event unrelated to drought,” he added.
Back in May, Botswana’s government ruled out poaching as a reason – noting the tusks had not been removed, according to Phys.org.
There are other things which point to something other than poaching.
“It is only elephants that are dying and nothing else,” Dr McCann said. “If it was cyanide used by poachers, you would expect to see other deaths.”
“We have sent [samples] off for testing and we are expecting the results over the next couple of weeks or so,” he said.
