Zimbabwe: Dead elephants succumbed to 'bacterial infection'

The mysterious death of more than 20 elephants near the Zimbabwe's biggest national park was due to a “bacterial infection," said wildlife authorities in the country on Tuesday after investigations.

“So far, laboratory tests have revealed that it was called pasteurella multocida type B, which causes a disease called hemorrhaegic septic-aemia which caused [the] deaths of our elephants,” said Tinashe Farawo, Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe spokesperson, in a telephone interview.

“We have sent samples to South Africa and [the] United Kingdom for further testing.”

In August, authorities in Zimbabwe said they had found dead elephants near Botswana in Pandamasue Forest, between Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls.

Botswana has also found hundreds of dead elephants this year. Those deaths were attributed to ingesting cyanobacteria - a toxic bacteria which can occur naturally in standing water and sometimes grow into large blooms known as blue-green algae.

Zimbabwe has one of the biggest elephant populations in the world. Hwange national park alone is home to about 45,000 elephants.