Food shortages due to an unprecedented drought in Zimbabwe have led the government to authorize the country's Parks and Wildlife Authority to slaughter 200 elephants.

Elephants will be hunted in areas where they have clashed with humans. This includes the home of the country's largest nature reserve. The site is home to an elephant population four times its capacity.

"Zimbabwe has more elephants than it needs and we have more elephants than our forests can support. We are talking to ZimParks (Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife) and some local communities about it," said the Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Sithembiso Nyoni.

After Botswana, Zimbabwe is the country with the second highest number of elephants in the world, around 100,000.

The country first slaughtered pachyderms in 1988. In total, it has killed 700 elephants.

Zimbabwe follows a similar decision by Namibia, which announced at the end of last August the slaughter of 723 animals, including elephants, zebras, hippos and buffaloes, among others, to also alleviate the famine caused by the drought.

More than 30 million people in southern Africa are being affected by a severe drought caused by El Niño, the United Nations said at the beginning of June, calling for international aid to prevent food insecurity.