Grassroots Vol 21 No 1 | Page 22

NEWS

Figure 3 : The pathways of five elephants in the Seronga area ( NG11 , NG12 , and NG13 ) from October 2003 to November 2006 and eight elephants roaming beyond Seronga that we tracked from November 2004 to March 2010 . The elephants in Seronga did not cross the veterinary fence ( dashed lines ) or the Okavango Panhandle . Neither did the elephants beyond the boundaries separating Seronga and the adjacent areas in Botswana , Namibia , Angola , and Zambia . Basemap Source : ESRI , MAXAR .
levels may also have increased their susceptibility to disease . Thus , the article suggests that “ such a complex chain of events consisting of multiple causes makes communication complex and policy actions intricate .”
The implications
These complexities highlight several aspects for deeper consideration . The first is the impact of fences on the broader African conservation landscapes and how , historically , veterinary fences have contributed to the declines of antelope species such as sable and tsessebe , and zebra and wildebeest numbers .
According to the authors , the restriction of elephant movement and dispersal in Seronga adds more evidence of the potential hazards of fencing . However , they acknowledge that this is area-specific and there are areas , like South Africa , for instance , where fencing may benefit conservation .
The second is what kind of management response is required , given that the causes were likely a combination of natural and anthropogenic ones . Diseases are not unnatural , and mass dieoff events are not without precedent . However , the barriers that prevent dispersal and access to the permanent river are unnatural .
The third aspect centres around the discussion of the human-wildlife coexistence ( or lack thereof ). Essentially , the question of land-sharing , as opposed to land-sparing in the case of national parks , becomes superficial when access to resources is restricted , and artificial barriers prevent dispersal , allowing for the spread of contagious disease .
The land is not “ shared ” with them . Here , the authors recommend a discussion around realigning veterinary fences .
In essence , the deaths of 330 elephants will have little impact on the region ’ s overall population and represent just 2 % of the total estimated 15,000 elephants in the Seronga region .
The event that caused their death , whether contagious disease or poisoning by cyanobacterial toxins , is almost certainly natural .
However , the circumstances that made it more likely to occur are due to human restrictions on both movement and access to freshwater .
The authors conclude that “ we must not allow our predilections for simple answers to interfere with reasoned analysis and discussing the broader significance .”
The full study can be accessed here : “ The 2020 elephant die-off in Botswana ”, van Aarde RJ ., Pimm SL ., Guldemond R ., Huang R ., Maré C ., ( 2021 ), PeerJ
21 Grassroots Vol 21 No 1 March 2021