The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has reported the deaths of several animals near Harare. They were poisoned by the polluted water of Lake Chivero.
The main water supplier to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, Lake Chivero is nevertheless dangerously polluted. Several animals, including four white rhinos, a “near threatened” species, died last week after drinking its water, contaminated by cyanobacteria.
Zimparks, Zimbabwe's parks and wildlife management authority, also reported the deaths of three zebras, four wildebeest, four fish eagles and several goats and cattle.
All were poisoned by these cyanobacteria, also toxic to humans and “caused by water pollution” which “continues to increase in Lake Chivero where the municipality of Harare dumps wastewater,” Tinashe said. Farawo, Zimparks spokesperson.
Remaining animals transferred
The organization claims to have tried to prevent wild animals from reaching polluted water, in particular by “placing blocks of salt […] around the park” to deter them and by installing “artificial water points with clean water”.
These efforts unfortunately “proved insufficient” and, according to Tinashe Farawo, Zimparks quickly moved the other rhinos present in the park to avoid further deaths.
Knowing that these mammals are the target of poachers, the authorities do not provide figures on their numbers within natural parks. However, the most recent data from ZimParks shows 496 black rhinos and 374 white rhinos in Zimbabwe in 2017.
The former are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a critically endangered species, with only 3,140 individuals remaining worldwide. With around 10,080 representatives in Africa, the white rhino population is considered to be growing after near extinction at the end of the 19th century.
