Marriage, Zimbabwe - Capon Sibanda Springs took action when a GPS-triggered alert showed a herd of elephants heading to a village near the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. He issued a warning in the WhatsApp team before riding a bicycle to inform nearby residents who have no phone or internet access.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Service and the International Animal Welfare Foundation launched a new elephant system that tracks elephants last year. Its purpose is to prevent dangers between people and elephants from encountering, which is more frequent as competition for food and water is exacerbated by competition from climate change.

"It was even more of a challenge when we started, but it became amazing," said Sibanda, 29.

For generations, villagers hit the pot, shouted or burned the feces to drive away the elephants. But drought and the worsening of changing resources have made these animals more frequently attack villages, destroying crops and infrastructure, and sometimes harming or killing people.

Zimbabwe's elephant population is estimated to be around 100,000, almost twice the capacity of the land. The country has not eliminated elephants for nearly forty years. This is due to the pressure from wildlife conservationists, and the process is expensive due to the claims of Parker spokesman Tinashe Farawo.

Conflicts between humans and wildlife, such as elephants, lions and hyenas, killed 18 people in southern African countries between January and April this year, forcing park authorities to kill 158 "trouble" animals during this period.

"The drought is getting worse. The elephants are eating up a little bit of what we have harvested," said Senzeni Sibanda, a local MP and farmer.

Technology now supports traditional strategies. Through the EarthRanger platform introduced by IFAW, the authorities tracked the lords in real time. The map shows how far they are close to the buffer – delineated on a digital map rather than on a fence, separating the park and hunting concessions from the community land.

One morning, at a park restaurant, IFAW's live operations manager Arnold Thipha monitored the idol on the laptop while waiting for breakfast. When the icon crosses the red line, a vulnerability signal is sent to alert the alarm.

"We will be able to see the interaction between wildlife and people," Thipa said. "This allows us to provide more resources for specific areas."

The system also records events such as predators such as lions or hyenas attacking humans and livestock, as well as human retaliatory attacks on wildlife. It also tracks the location of community guardians such as Capon Sibanda.

"Whenever I wake up, I ride a bike, pick up a gadget, and get on the road," said Xibanda. He usually uses photos to collect and store data on his phone. "In the blink of an eye," he said, alerting was sent to the Rangers and the villagers.

His promise won the admiration of the locals, who sometimes sacrificed him. He also receives monthly food distributions, worth about $80, as well as internet data.

Parker agency director Edson Gandiwa said the platform ensures that “protection decisions are informed through strong scientific data.”

Villagers like Senzeni Sibanda said the system is making a difference: “We still hit the pot, but now we will give a warning in time and the Rangers will react faster.”

Despite this, frustration still lingers. Sibanda lost its crops and water infrastructure, attacked elephants and hoped to take stronger action. "Why don't you eliminate them so that we can benefit?" she asked. “We have too many elephants anyway.”

Her community, home to hundreds of people, received only a small portion of the annual trophy income, about the value of an elephant, or $10,000 to $80,000, which is used for water repairs or fences. She hopes Zimbabwe's hunting quota increases, which is 500 elephants per year, and her share of the community increases.

The elephant debate made headlines. Last September, militants protested after Zimbabwe and Namibia proposed massacres to feed arid communities. The then president of Botswana was willing to send 20,000 elephants to Germany, and the country's wildlife minister mocked him and sent 10,000 people to Hyde Park in the heart of London so that the British could "live with the elephants."

Zimbabwe's collar project may provide a way forward. Sixteen elephants, mainly patriarchs, already have GPS collars that allow rangers to follow their leaders to track the entire group. But Hwange has about 45,000 elephants, Parks officials say it has a capacity of 15,000. Project officials acknowledge that there is still a huge gap.

In a recent pickup mission, a team of ecologists, veterinarians, trackers and rangers identified a group. A shooter darts from a distance. After some tracking with drones and trucks, team members installed collars and their batteries lasted for two to four years. Some collected blood samples. Rangers with rifles keep watching.

Once the collar is fixed, the medicine will be given, while the patriarch interlaced into the wild, slapped his ears.

"Avery for the second time," said Molin police at the park agency Verinian.

___

The Associated Press's climate and environmental coverage has received financial support from several private foundations. AP is responsible for all content. Find criteria for working with charity, which is the list of supporters and coverage of funding for AP.org.