THE unfortunate slaying of Cecil the lion outside the Hwange National Park by an American dentist last month has helped to shed light on rampant poaching at the country’s game parks.
There was an outpouring of anger after Walter Palmer was outed as the killer of the iconic lion that was lured into a private game park in the Gwayi area.
Cecil was a tourist drawcard and was part of a research by the United Kingdom’s Oxford University aimed at preserving the lion population, which is in danger of extinction.
Palmer’s alleged accomplice, Theo Bronkhorst, a Bulawayo-based professional hunter was charged last week with failing to prevent the American from unlawfully killing Cecil.
Honest Ndlovu, owner of the game farm where Cecil was killed, is expected in court this week.
Police have also arrested Headman Sibanda, a safari operator in the Gwayi Conservancy as part of a clampdown against poaching.
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) at the weekend announced a ban on the hunting of lions, leopards and elephants outside Hwange National Park following the illegal killing of Cecil.
Environment minister Oppah Muchinguri on Friday told journalists the government wanted Palmer extradited to face justice in Zimbabwe.
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Muchinguri’s statement was extensively quoted by the international media as it was the first reaction by the government and she really missed a golden opportunity to rally the world to help strengthen anti-poaching efforts in the country.
She chose to focus on politics, which had nothing to do with Cecil’s death.
Muchinguri claimed that ‘one can conclude with confidence that Palmer being an American citizen had a well-orchestrated agenda, which would tarnish the image of Zimbabwe and further strain the relationship between Zimbabwe the United States of America.’
The tendency to invoke conspiracy theories has become a common refrain for the Zanu PF government but this only saves to make us a laughing stock.
Muchinguri should use the killing of Cecil to draw the world’s attention to the problem of poaching, which involves powerful local and international syndicates.
The Zimbabwean government itself has done very little to end poaching especially at the Hwange National Park, which reached crisis levels in 2013 when cyanide was used to kill over 100 elephants.
A clever way to deal with the aftermath of Cecil’s death is to rally other governments and organisations that have already offered resources to help Zimbabwe fight poaching.
Curiously Muchinguri did not refer to an offer by the British government to help the government fight the illegal hunting of animals as she sought to dwell on infantile conspiracies.
Conservation groups such as Johnny Rodriguez’s, Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force have been maligned by the government but in this case they successfully used Cecil’s death as a rallying point to fight poaching.
The suspension of bow hunting is a commendable policy intervention by the government.
Bow hunting has been criticised as inhumane because targeted animals are crippled and allowed to die slowly and painfully as was the case with Cecil.
Zimparks said it would not ‘hesitate to arrest, prosecute, and ban for life any persons including professional hunters, clients and land owners who are caught on the wrong side of the law’.
The authorities should go beyond rhetoric and put in place tougher measures to fight poaching.
