WORLD WORLDWIDE ANIMALS ZIMBABWE ANIMAL SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL - News Journal Update - Zimbabwe’s drought spells death for its elephants, unless we act NOW.

 

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Zimbabwe’s drought spells death for its elephants, unless we act NOW.  Please help by making a donation now! Share Tweet Forward Dear friends,  Zimbabwe’s wildlife is in serious trouble. An enduring drought, barely influenced by a recent and inadequate smattering of rain, has left wild animals in severe distress and dying, and will continue to do so if we do not help right away. The elephants of Hwange National Park are set to return from their annual migration - we MUST ensure there is water for them! Please, help them now! Please help by making a donation now! A terrible drought is raging in Hwange National Park. Many elephants are now in Botswana, but soon will begin their traditional migration back to Hwange. Unless we help NOW, they will find near-dry water holes and death waiting for them.  If we do not act fast, we risk losing untold numbers of endangered African elephants. Please help us provide life-saving water right away! Credit: Friends of Hwange We have a way to pump enough water for the drought-stricken elephants of Zimbabwe. The elephants need YOUR help to make it happen. Please help by making a donation now! There are more than 45,000 elephants in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. The average adult elephant consumes around 40 gallons (150 liters) to 53 gallons (200 liters) of water a day, which means millions of liters are needed to sustain this population every day. The hot, arid Hwange National Park is a death trap for desperately thirsty elephants - this is why.  The deadly combination of a woefully inadequate water supply and soaring temperatures leave elephants and other animals exhausted at the edges of near-dry water pans. To make the situation worse, once the water has largely dried up, the water hole becomes a sticky, muddy death trap, and weak elephants do not have the energy to free themselves from it - especially the young. They become distressed and ultimately succumb to thirst, heat, and exhaustion.  Credit: Friends of Hwange In other instances, weak animals or infants are left behind as the herd drags itself off in search of a new water source with a few more drops to drink. This is sometimes 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) away and too far for a weakened calf to travel. Babies are thus abandoned and left to die. Exhausted elephants and their babies get STUCK in muddy waterholes, too weak to free themselves, and slowly die.  Please help us pump enough water for these desperate elephants!  Please help by making a donation now! Hwange National Park has an inadequate supply of natural surface water for wildlife, so pumps are used to bring water to the surface from deep underground. Credit: Friends of Hwange This works fine when the rains come as expected because the pumps can operate for eight hours a day - enough to provide sufficient water.  But this year when the animals return mid-year, there will be hardly any water to sustain them… …unless we act NOW! Please help by making a donation now! The pumps will need to operate 24 hours a day to sustain the elephants.  The only way to do this is by installing solar-powered battery systems on the pumps. Because of the cost, some pumps are run on diesel generators - a noisy, expensive and non-eco-friendly solution that pollutes the surrounding atmosphere. The diesel for the generators is often stolen by criminals, leaving the animals once again at great risk. Installing solar-powered battery systems at more of the pumps is the most effective way to get a constant supply of water to the elephants - and we do not have a moment to lose. Credit: Friends of Hwange With your help, we will purchase solar-powered battery systems to pump   water 24/7 throughout the Hwange National Park. This will ensure the park can sustain the elephants and prevent death by mud traps. Please, help now! Donate as much as you can today. Please help by making a donation now! We know solar technology works - we have used it to help mitigate the effects of drought in Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa to great success. Now, the elephants of Zimbabwe need us, and we cannot turn away from them in their hour of direst need. Credit: Friends of Hwange Please help by making a donation now! Please help us to act FAST to ensure that these thirsty elephants and other wildlife have access to life-saving water when they return to the park in a few months.  For every $12,500 (around £9,900) raised, we can purchase and install one solar battery system - and we ultimately hope to install 10. It will make the difference between life and death for desperate elephants in Zimbabwe. Donate right away, and help us protect the futures of the elephants of Hwange National Park. Saving animals and the planet,   Campaign Director Animal Survival International P.S. As Zimbabwe faces its driest year in 50 years, please help us purchase solar-powered battery systems to help power water pumps. It will save elephant lives! We must act NOW. Please donate right away and help us get a steady water supply to the desperate elephants of Zimbabwe. Please help by making a donation now!

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