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House committee praise American conservationist
2006-03-30 07:51:33
By Adam Ihucha, recently in Serengeti
An American billionaire recently won the hearts of members of the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources for his ’’rare goodwill’’ for paying full trophy fees amounting to 1bn/- to the government without killing a single animal in the past four years.
Paul Tudor Jones, a prominent Wall Street trader who owns Grumeti Reserves Ltd, a company incorporated in Tanzania, has never killed wildlife in his three hunting blocks in western Serengeti for four consecutive years.
’’From a technical point of view, this American investor deserves praise and other investors should borrow a leaf from him for helping the country boost its wildlife populations,’’ Ludewa MP, Prof Raphael Mwalyosi, said.
Raynald Mrope said: ’’I concur with Prof Mwalyosi, who is a natural resources expert. This is the kind of investors we want in this country.’’
He said that this kind of investors deserve to be accorded support by the government and the community around the animal sanctuary.
Mrope who is MP for Masasi and chairman of the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) said the billionaire had shown philanthropy of the highest degree by conserving natural resources better than Tanzanians themselves.
’’I’d be glad if the investment were extended to other areas as well. Let the billionaire know that we appreciate his gesture’’ Mrope told the general manager of Grumeti Reserve Community and Wildlife Conservation Fund, Brian Harris. Lucy Mayenga (Special Seats, Youth) commended the investor for not killing wildlife in spite of this massive investment.
”We encourage you to move on, but bear in mind that you might encounter some opposition. That’s how it is,” Mayenga said.
Grumeti Reserves Ltd is a legal concession holder of three blocks - Grumeti and Ikorongo and Ikoma tourist hunting reserves.
’’We have resolved to pay full trophy fees to the government for 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 for the three blocks, but we have never killed any wildlife.
Income generated for the wildlife division far exceeds the revenue that could be generated from hunting,’’ Harris said. Jones himself was quoted in the National Geographic Magazine as saying that he had already invested in the Grumeti Reserves project US$20 million to conserve migratory wildlife.
He said he had also successfully waged war against illegal hunting done by local people.
Because hunting is illegal, statistics of the animals that killed in the area are hard to come by.
It is estimated that poachers kill between 40,000 and 200,000 wildlife annually. Most of the animals killed are wildebeests.
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