"Elephants in Zimbabwe are being shot and eaten as wildlife is decimated by the impact of the country's economic crisis, activists claimed today. Almost 2,000 elephants have been killed in and around the Hwange national park in north-west Zimbabwe this year, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force claimed, adding that the country's national parks department intended to authorise the shooting of 1,000 more by the end of the year. Johnny Rodrigues, the ZCTF's chairman, said the information had come from ex-employees of the parks authority, and the killings were the result of a combination of hunting, poaching, and an alleged culling programme that he believes is being used as a cover for illegal ivory trade. 'The actual employees can shoot these animals in lieu of wages,' he claimed. 'It's the only way they can survive.'"