"Hundreds" of elephants perish in mysterious mass die-off in Botswana

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Botswana’s government is yet to test the remains of the dead animals in what has been described as a ‘conservation disaster’ (The Guardian)

Quote

More than 350 elephants have died in northern Botswana in a mysterious mass die-off described by scientists as a “conservation disaster”.

 

A cluster of elephant deaths was first reported in the Okavango Delta in early May, with 169 individuals dead by the end of the month. By mid June, the number had more than doubled, with 70% of the deaths clustered around waterholes, according to local sources who wish to remain anonymous.

 

“This is a mass die-off on a level that hasn’t been seen in a very, very long time. Outside of drought, I don’t know of a die-off that has been this significant,” said Dr Niall McCann, the director of conservation at UK-based charity National Park Rescue.

 

[Uaarkson]

The Earth wants its money back.

[mclumber1]

Waterholes contaminated with a virus or bacteria maybe? 

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 minutes ago, mclumber1 said:

Waterholes contaminated with a virus or bacteria maybe? 

That's more than likely the case.

[Keyser_Soze]

Even the Elephants want out of 2020 

[BloodyHell]

That’s incredibly sad. Such an amazing and intelligent animal. But its hard to protect them when we can’t even protect vulnerable humans.

[GeneticBlueprint]

"Oh gosh that's awful. Well, we better not let that ivory go to waste."

[mclumber1]

7 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

"Oh gosh that's awful. Well, we better not let that ivory go to waste."

Fun fact:  Even though elephant ivory is essentially banned everywhere, you can buy and sell mammoth (of the extinct variety) ivory freely.  I found a shop in Hong Kong like 15 years ago that specialized in mammoth ivory sculptures.  Pretty neat stuff. 

[Brian]

Pretty sure this is how M Night’s movie started where the trees win

[Bloodporne]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Even the Elephants want out of 2020 

[Jason]

Why is Obama murdering elephants to make Trump look bad?

[Reputator]

1 hour ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

"Oh gosh that's awful. Well, we better not let that ivory go to waste."

 

My first thought as well. Poachers found a way to kill elephants without being seen.

[BloodyHell]

2 hours ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

"Oh gosh that's awful. Well, we better not let that ivory go to waste."

Doubtful. Most countries stamp it and store it in a vault to keep it off the market. There are massive siezed stockpiles of it. I actually recently watched a documentary on it.

[Chairslinger]

Hopefully this is still only the second biggest reduction in elephant population for 2020.

 

 

Spoiler

 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

The elephant version of Jonestown. The mothership has taken them home. 

[Bloodporne]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Why is Obama murdering elephants to make Trump look bad?

Trump retweeting your post as we speak and rephrasing it into a 14 word sentence. 

[TheLeon]

49 minutes ago, Chairslinger said:

Hopefully this is still only the second biggest reduction in elephant population for 2020.

 

 

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My joke was going to be something along these lines. They just couldn’t take being associated with the Republican Party any longer.

[Anathema-]

2 hours ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

Pretty sure this is how M Night’s movie started where the trees win

 

But the trees DIDN'T win and that's mostly why that movie sucked shit.

[BloodyHell]

3 hours ago, mclumber1 said:

Fun fact:  Even though elephant ivory is essentially banned everywhere, you can buy and sell mammoth (of the extinct variety) ivory freely.  I found a shop in Hong Kong like 15 years ago that specialized in mammoth ivory sculptures.  Pretty neat stuff. 

My mother actually has ivory carvings from the Eskimo and Inuit, which she and my mother traded for ceremonial clothing they made. Its all from before I was born. Yhe artistry is incredible. 

[Bacon]

4 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Even the Elephants want out of 2020 

Nah, I'm fine. 

[Littleronin]

Do we know if the Trump kids have been there recently?