Zimbabwe suspects bacterial disease behind elephant deaths

[Mary Wilson]

FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press

August 30, 2020, 12:30 PM

The carcasses of the elephants were discovered on Friday in Pandamasue Forest, located between Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls. Blood samples have been taken to a laboratory for analysis to determine the cause of their deaths, Tinashe Farawo, spokesman of the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, said.

The dead elephants were found with the tusks still on their bodies, ruling out poaching.

“We can only ascertain the cause of death after the tests. But we have ruled out cyanide poisoning," Farawo told The Associated Press. "Only elephants were affected, no vultures or any other animals were affected. Initial tests show that it is not cyanide. We are also ruling out poachers because the tusks were intact.”

The mysterious deaths of the elephants in Zimbabwe appears similar to the deaths last month of more than 275 elephants in neighboring Botswana. Scientists are still investigating the deaths of the elephants in Botswana's Okavango Delta area and poaching, poisoning and anthrax have been ruled out.

https://abcnews.go.com/Internationa...gates-mysterious-deaths-11-elephants-72711488

 

[Pathfinder]

29 SEPTEMBRE 20204:30 AM
UPDATED IL Y A 3 HEURES

Zimbabwe suspects bacterial disease behind elephant deaths

By MacDonald Dzirutwe, Alexander Winning

3 MIN READ

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe suspects a bacterial disease called haemorrhagic septicaemia is behind the recent deaths of more than 30 elephants but is doing further tests to make sure, the parks authority said.
...
https://fr.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN26K1J2

 

[Pathfinder]

OCTOBER 24, 2023
Editors' notes

Scientists uncover cause of mysterious deaths of elephants in Zimbabwe

by University of Surrey

A bacterium, closely associated with deadly septicemia, could have caused the deaths of six African elephants in Zimbabwe and possibly more in neighboring countries. The findings place infectious diseases on the list of pressures on African elephants, whose populations continue to be under threat.

During this unique study, scientists from the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust, the Animal and Plant Health Agency UK, the University of Surrey and laboratories in South Africa investigated the mysterious deaths of 35 elephants mostly between August and September 2020, in a 40 x 25 km radius of North-Western Zimbabwe. This incident followed the death of approximately 350 elephants in neighboring northern Botswana from May to June 2020, which triggered much international concern.
...
A number of such postmortem examinations were carried out. Poaching was quickly ruled out, mainly because all the dead elephants had their tusks intact. Toxicology analyses, including immediate testing for cyanide, which is sometimes used to kill elephant in Zimbabwe, as well as more sophisticated analyses done in UK, found no traces of poisons in the carcasses or at a waterhole close to many of the carcasses.

Further examination by veterinarians and scientists identified a septicemic infection caused by a by a little-known bacteria provisionally named Bisgaard taxon 45, an unclassified member the of Pasteurellaceae bacterial family, in six elephants. This was confirmed by bacterial isolation and genetic analysis.
...


https://phys.org/news/2023-10-scientists-uncover-mysterious-deaths-elephants.html