Deadly elephant virus could jump to humans, experts warn after mystery bug killed hundreds of animals in Africa

“The whole environment needs to be sampled — the vegetation, water and soil. All the tissue of the carcass, the muscle, blood, brain, spleen. Samples taken from the elephant carcasses have been sent to Zimbabwe to determine the cause of death. Scientists have urged the government to test the animals to ensure they do not pose a risk to human life. The lack of urgency is of real concern and does not reflect the actions of a responsible custodian,” said Mary Rice, executive director of the Environmental Investigation Agency in London. Conservationists think that the death toll will be higher as carcasses can be difficult to spot. Cyanide poisoning, often used by poachers in Zimbabwe, could be a possible cause of death but scavenging animals do not appear to be dying at the carcasses.

Botswana is home to more than 130,000 elephants – approximately a third of Africa’s remaining savanna elephants. There are about 18,000 elephants in the Okavango Delta. Poaching and anthrax have been ruled as possible causes and there has been no drought, another mass killer of elephants. Experts are waiting for more results from South Africa next week before sharing findings with the public. Oduetse Kaboto, a senior official in the environment and tourism ministry, said: “We have to wait for another set of results and reconcile the two to see if they are saying the same thing before we come to a definitive conclusion.

“We are hoping the second set of results will come in next week and that’s when we should be able to communicate to the public the cause of deaths.” Dr Cyril Taolo, acting director for Botswana’s department of wildlife and national parks, said: “We are aware of the elephants that are dying. “Out of the 350 animals we have confirmed 280 of those animals. We are still in the process of confirming the rest.” The Botswana wildlife department said the government contacted officials in neighboring Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Zambia but they had not seen similar elephant deaths.  –The Sun