|
Back to Index
Poachers
kill elephants in national park
ZimOnline
October 10, 2006
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=254
BULAWAYO – Poachers
have killed elephants in Chizarira national park in northern Zimbabwe,
which according to conservationists has lost more than 50 percent
of its game over the past six years when villagers occupied conservancies
and decimated wildlife.
The elephants,
part of a "presidential herd" which President Robert Mugabe
in 1991 undertook to protect from hunters and poachers, were slaughtered
last week for their ivory by as yet unknown people.
The police in
Matabeleland North province under which Chizarira falls said an
anti-poaching team disrupted about five people as they were dehorning
the elephants. The poachers fled the scene leaving behind a 303
rifle and about 22 tusks on the scene.
"Investigations
are in progress and police are compiling information that would
lead us to the suspects involved in the killing of the elephants,"
provincial police spokesman Augustine Zimbili told ZimOnline.
The government’s
Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management said it was
yet to get a full report on the matter.
Poaching has
been rife in Zimbabwe since landless black villagers began invading
– with tacit approval from the government - white-owned farms and
game conservancies over the past six years.
In many cases
farm invaders poached animals for meat and also cut down trees for
sale as firewood mostly to people living in urban areas.
Some of the
country’s biggest nature and game conservancies including Gonarezhou
national park that forms part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier
straddling across Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa have large
parts occupied by villagers.
There have also
been reports of illegal and uncontrolled trophy hunting on former
white-owned conservancies now controlled by powerful government
and ruling ZANU PF party politicians.
The government
however denies politicians are illegally hunting game and insists
it still has poaching under control. - ZimOnline
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
