205 elephants died in Kenya due to lack of water. Drought also creates problems for other African animal species.

How drought kills hundreds of elephants in Kenya

The climate changes that affect Africa and are at the heart of COP27 are not just about human beings. A prolonged and anomalous drought in Kenya killed 205 elephants and numerous other wildlife between February and October 2022. The African nation and much of East Africa are experiencing the worst drought in 40 years, Kenyan Tourism Minister Peninah said. Malonza. The progress made in safeguarding elephants thanks to the restrictions on illegal hunting is being nullified by the absence of rain due to climate change in recent years.
human-fauna conflict
In recent years, the African elephant has had to change its migration routes © iStockphoto
Not enough rain coming

Although sporadic rains are expected in the Horn of Africa region as the winter season approaches, Kenya’s Meteorological Department expects below-average rainfall for much of the next few months, raising fears that the threat to Kenya’s wildlife is not over. Usually a short rainy season occurs in Kenya between November and December, but the warm temperatures of the last few months do not allow for a sufficient amount of water to meet the needs of local animals.

Fourteen species were affected by the severe drought: in addition to the 205 dead elephants, 512 wildebeest, 381 common zebras, 12 giraffes and 51 buffaloes died in the same period, many of which lived in Kenyan national parks which are an important tourist attraction for the country. There have also been 49 deaths of Grevy’s zebra, a rare and endangered species.
Animal crisis in Kenya

Although it is a first step to take into account the losses, the figures published by the Kenyan authorities are far from complete, the Ministry of Tourism warned in a report, given that other carnivorous animals may have devoured some carcasses. “So there is the possibility of greater mortality," says the ministerial report. The areas north and south of the nation with Nairobi as its capital are the hardest hit by drought and are also home to most of Kenya’s elephant population.

In an interview resumed by CNN, former Kenya tourism secretary Najib Balala said that global warming now kills 20 times more elephants than poaching. Prolonged drought across the Horn of Africa has left some 18 million people without food and water in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, according to reports from the World Food Program. The work at COP27 aims to solve the problems due to climate change in the region, but now the crisis affecting animal species adds to the difficulties to be faced on the African continent.

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