Over the past 2 months, over 150 elephants have died in Botswana, the exact reason of their deaths remains unknown.

The mass die-off has left wildlife officials bewildered.

Initial tests ruled out poisoning by humans and anthrax, a bacteria that is found in soil that flares up in some parts of Botswana. It’s not poaching as the ivory of the elephants has not been taken out from the carcasses.

Botswana is home to the largest elephant population in the world.

The country has a third of Africa’s elephants at around 130,000 animals.

Currently, there is no official diagnosis for the surge in the deaths of the animals.

Dimakatso Ntshebe, the Regional Wildlife Coordinator, said:

We are still awaiting results on the exact cause of death.

The carcasses were found intact, which means it is not poaching, however, the Department of Wildlife of Botswana has started to remove the ivory tusks from the corpses to make sure no poacher gets them.

Ntshebe added:

We are still experiencing elephants dying in the Okavango Panhandle. We also see elephants that show that they are sick and are on the verge of dying. We have started removing the tusks in the dead elephants, and we have started burning the carcasses. We have started with those [carcasses], which are close to the villages, and those that are lying in the water. The idea is to burn as many carcasses as possible. However, we have a challenge since some of the carcasses are in areas which are difficult to reach.

Locals have also been discouraged from consuming any meat that comes from the dead elephants as tests are still taking place.

Tissue samples have been sent for testing, however, results could be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.