More than 100 hippos have cryptically give way within a week in Namibia . As of yesterday , October 9 , 107 river horse had beenreporteddead , and the lethal disease splenic fever is likely to pick .

The hippos have decease in the Mahango field of Bwabwata National Park in the Kavango East Region of Namibia . The Ministry of Environment and Tourism ( MET ) believes that splenic fever is the cause but is hold off for veterinary appraisal to confirm this .

“ This is a situation that we have seen before . It hap in Zambia before and it primarily occur when the floor of the river is so low … Our scientist will advise right , but we mistrust it is anthrax , ” Colgar Sikopo , the MET ’s director of parks and wildlife management , told Namibian newspaperNew Era .

The paper alsotweeteda picture show , in which a number of lifeless hippos can be seen lying on their vertebral column .

Anthrax can commonly be found in soil , infecting animals as they crop , or in shallow moribund water like the humiliated river in the interior commons . As hippos pass a mountain of time in the water , they are particularly at jeopardy .

Anthrax is triggered by the bacteriaBacillus anthracis , which is found in arid climates . more often than not , it does n’t spread very well , but it can infect both wild and domestic animals , and sometimes even citizenry .

Anthrax can spread to carnivore that have eaten infected meat , so official are worried about the health of crocodile that might have feasted on the deceased Hippopotamus amphibius . They are also warning local citizenry to avoid the utter animals and not to consume their gist .

“ What we are doing is we are trying our good to burn every carcass to prevent further spreading of the disease , but also to control that no person gets to these animals and starts feeding on the meat , ”   said Sikopo .

This is the first clock time that this form of mass die - off has been observed in Bwabwata National Park , but similar effect have happened before in Uganda ’s Queen Elizabeth National Park in 2004 , where roughly 300 hippos cash in one’s chips , and again in 2010 , when 82 hippos and nine buffalo were pop .

Officials are hop they can control this recent outbreak and are telling locals not to worry . “ This is a natural causa and with the animals dying people should not panic , as it wo n’t negatively affect tourism in the domain , ” Sikopo said .

Before the deaths , the entire hippo population of Namibia was just 1,300 , so hopefully the irruption will be control soon .