(CNN)The orchestrated killing of hippos in Zambia will begin in May, state officials said, over objections from a key animal rights group.
The hippo cull is slated for the Luangwa River valley in Zambia’s Eastern province, the Department of National Parks & Wildlife said last week in a statement.
The plan is the same one announced in October by the nation’s tourism chief, wildlife ministry spokesman Lewis Daka told CNN on Thursday. It would provide for the killing of as many as 2,000 hippos over five years, tourism minister Charles Banda said at the time, according to Reuters.
