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Tell it to the birds TANAPA, poaching is rife
2005-07-13 08:55:01
By Editor
Claims that poaching in national parks and game reserves has been reduced substantially by TANAPA during the just-ended Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair must be received with a pinch of salt.
For one thing, the “substantial percentage” that a TANAPA official referred to does not tell much because it does not talk about specific numbers.
Statistics tell a story better!
We need to know how many poachers have been nabbed and between what dates to be able to believe the “success” TANAPA is talking about.
The statement does not say how much this success has raised the sectors’ contribution to the country’s economy, let alone how much communities living around the national parks and game reserves have managed to raise their standard of living as a result.
The situation on the ground tells a different story.
There is no doubt that the campaign to educate communities on the importance of wildlife conservation has borne fruit.
Many people living adjacent to game reserves have stopped hunting and killing wildlife and only do so with the consent of the rangers.
The communities have also established environmental committees that are responsible for, among other things, dealing with those who destroy the environment in general, including killing wildlife.
Almost all the village governments in the areas in question to have a squad of guards whose duty is specifically to protect wildlife.
We appreciate the work done by stakeholders to provide environmental education to communities living around wildlife sanctuaries.
Indeed, wananchi play a major role in conserving our natural resources.
Yet there have been complaints that state organs let down the communities, discouraging badly some of the wananchi in the conservation struggle.
They are no longer enthusiastic about protecting the game reserves.
This is because they feel betrayed when they invest their energies and time in protecting wildlife only to see poachers raid the parks, kill the animals and get way in full view of the law.
A recent incident in which army officers were arrested for being in possession of about 80 pieces of elephant tusks at Ikwiriri in Rufiji district is worth mentioning here.
Three of the five suspects manage to escape from the police who arrested them.
Some months before the incident, a government driver also made away with tusks worth millions of shillings after easily beating roadblocks mounted on the Ikwiriri-Dar es Salaam road.
However, he was not so lucky as his car overturned.
Only then did people discover that he was ferrying contraband trophies. These incidents are a drop in the ocean.
We acknowledge the effort made by the government to contain poaching, but we think that the authorities could do more.
Frequent incidents of poaching and often from a particular area lead to the suspicion that there is a deliberate move to turn a blind eye on what is happening there.
We also believe that the government could stamp out poaching if it so wished. However, it is inconceivable why it is reluctant or rather, dragging its feet to deal with the menace.
Governments in some countries have managed to wipe out poaching.
We could do the same, given the high level of awareness of wildlife conservation that communities have attained.
One suspects that lack of political will is the cause.
We appeal to the government, TANAPA and the relevant authorities to deal squarely with poachers, since hitting them with kid gloves is likely to make communities disillusioned and eventually make them collude with the criminals.
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