By AFPMore by this AuthorLUSAKA,Zambia plans to slaughter 2,000 hippopotamuses to control overpopulation, officials said Wednesday, as conservationists lashed the scheme as a ploy to make money from trophy hunters. An official at the tourism ministry, who did not want to be named, said a five-year cull of hippos in a park in eastern Zambia would start in May. "Currently the hippo population in the South Luangwa National Park stands at over 13,000, but Luangwa can only cater for 5,000 hippos," he said. "Hippo lives are on the line in order to line the pockets of a few hunting operators and government officials," he said. Hippos, which are herbivorous, semiaquatic mammals, are classified as "vulnerable" in the Red List compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Source: Daily Nation February 14, 2019 05:15 UTC