The newspaper reported that the animals died "because of shortage of water and pasture."
"The situation is bad in the game park. Some of the solutions we are looking at in order to reduce the deaths are to cull and take some of the elephants to Namibia," Langa told
The Herald.
He said cabinet officials would meet to discuss plans for relocating the animals.
In May the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority invited Zimbabwean farmers to buy elephants to decongest areas where elephant populations are overly concentrated.
Zimbabwe has 100,000 elephants against its carrying capacity of 45,000.
"If trends continue at this rate we are going to have a major disaster," Chief Morris Mutsambiwa of the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority warned.
"Vegetation will be destroyed and water will run out in parks. If we have a major drought we are going to have massive deaths of elephants and other animals as they run out of food and water," he said.
Name: African Elephant (
Loxodonta africana)
Primary Classification: Proboscidea (Elephants)
Location: Africa.
Habitat: Wide range, including desert, scrub, savanna and high rainforest.
Diet: Bark, fruit, grass and leaves.
Size: Up to 16 ft in length, 13 ft in height, and 11 tons in weight.
Description: Gray, sparsely haired skin; large ears, which aid in temperature regulation; long, forward-curving ivory tusks, used for fighting, digging and eating; long, muscular trunk with two finger-like projections at the tip.
Cool Facts: It is the largest land mammal on Earth. It takes care of weak and injured pack members and grieves over dead companions. It has a particular fascination with the tusks and bones of dead elephants.
Conservation Status: Endangered
Major Threat: Poaching
What Can I Do?: Visit
Save the Elephants, the
African Wildlife Foundation, and the
Living With Elephants Foundation for information on how you can help endangered elephants.
