THE Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) has reportedly transferred over 30 game rangers from Hwange National Park following a sharp rise in poaching incidents believed to involve some insiders.
BY XOLISANI NCUBE
Sources in the wildlife sector said the decision to transfer the rangers was triggered by a recent probe into the killings of over 60 elephants in Hwange and other wildlife reserves dotted around the country.
The investigation, ordered by Environment minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, indicated that some underpaid ZimParks rangers were behind the rampant poaching, where poachers used cyanide to poison wildlife.
ZimParks acting spokesperson, Tawanda Gotosa could neither deny nor confirm the development, saying the matter was beyond his purview and referred NewsDay to his superiors. “That is a matter I cannot comment on, try my bosses. It’s a matter that requires higher authority,” he said.
But sources said ZimParks had engaged villagers close to the wildlife conservancies to assist in fighting poaching.
In the past months, elephants in Hwange have come under threat from poachers using cyanide, a lethal chemical compound, to kill the protected animals.
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Muchinguri-Kashiri, two weeks ago, said from her own investigations, game rangers had been implicated in poaching, alleging that this was largely due to poor conditions that most of them work under.
“Within national parks, we have our own rangers who man our parks on a day-to-day basis and most of this poaching is happening not far away from our camps.
“So we are worried that this is a new feature is happening within our closest environment,” she said.
“We had to engage the rangers so we could understand why this was happening and what the problems affecting them were and one of the reasons they pointed out was that they had some grievances and some of those rangers ended up being involved in poaching.”
Muchinguri said wildlife poaching and trafficking was a national security issue, not just a conservation matter, as it was being conducted by sophisticated transnational organised criminal networks.
Conservationists believe that Africa is losing elephants and rhinos through a combination of determined criminal gangs, corrupt government officials and a strong market for smuggled ivory, especially in Asian countries, particularly China.
