Drought-hit Zimbabwe invited local farmers and private game rangers to buy wild animals as it cuts back national game reserves to save wildlife from starvation.<br />The cash-strapped country has been battling to reduce its animals, especially elephants, whose population is more than twice what the parks can accommodate.<br />In recent years, Zimbabwe resorted to exporting elephants to countries such as China in efforts to raise funds and cut the expanding population.<br />The drought has left at least a quarter of the population in need of food aid and President Robert Mugabe in February declared many parts of the rural areas in a “state of disaster.”
