In Tuesday’s edition of NewsDay, we carried a story on 22 elephant carcasses that were recovered from Hwange National Park, the clearest sign that poachers are on the prowl in the vast wildlife conservancy, which is home to over 45 000 elephants.
It would appear that the authorities, whom we feel should have tightened security in the game reserve after that incident, have adopted a lackadaisical approach to the protection of the country’s fauna, itself the pride of the nation that continues to draw tourist traffic to the country.
We urge the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority to act speedily in securing trained dogs and deploying drones so there is close monitoring and security is tightened to avert such disasters in future.
While it was recently reported that authorities at the national airport seized 173 kilogrammes of ivory valued at $43 250 that was about to be smuggled to Singapore, leading to the arrest of three Zimbabweans and a Malian national, this is not good enough. It is better to ensure that we do not get excited over the arrests, but let’s prevent the killings to begin with. Prevention is always better than cure.
With all the noise made after the earlier cyanide catastrophe in 2013, it is amazing that we continue to speak about the same things, when what is required is urgent action to ensure that this valuable resource is preserved for future generations. Just last month, the park also lost 26 elephants in the Tsholotsho area and four others in Kariba through suspected poisoning.
ZimParks, some of whose officials have been implicated in the poaching scams, may need to work with communities surrounding the national parks to ensure that all suspected movements of poachers are reported and dealt with.
Given the rate at which the poaching of elephants is going, we may end up with a very depleted population of the animals or they may be wiped out entirely. It is imparative to ensure that security in national parks is tightened as a matter of urgency.
What is more disturbing is that in most cases, no arrests are made, leaving many to wonder if there could be an official hand in the poaching, given the lucrative monetary gains involved.
Given the extent of poaching across the country, there may be need for countries that share borders to revise their security measures and work together to ensure that poachers are sniffed out before they carry out their criminal activities.
The fact that poachers involved in this wealth generating illegal trade have become more professional and sophisticated means affected governments also need to up their game in response.