Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Other wildlife, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: Aug 15 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks, 

As I mentioned, I was asked the other day to help rescue a buffalo calf that was caught in a snare.  I was a bit nervous because I hadn’t worked on buffalo before but something had to be done so off I went.  Below is a picture of the buffalo as I first saw him: struggling to free himself from the wire caught tight around his back left leg…

Having estimated drug combinations and doses from an excellent ‘wildlife capture’ book, I darted the little fellow and then moved off to let him relax and go to sleep. 

After about 15 minutes he was pretty much out although still twitching his ears and moving his head occasionally.  We blindfolded him and blocked his ears to reduce stressful stimuli (light and noise) and then removed the snare from around his leg.  It had dug very deep into the skin but looked like it would heal: we washed it out and disinfected it, and gave him some long-acting antibiotics (although I later found out from a wildlife vet that I should have given him a much higher dose of antibiotics and perhaps some anti-inflammatory: oh well, we live and learn).

Unfortunately this story does not have a happy ending though.  After we finished treating the buffalo I reversed the drugs and we moved off to watch him recover.  He was close to water and the rest of the herd was not far away so he would have had a good chance of making it, but unfortunately as soon as he came around it became clear that something was wrong.  We had ascertained that his leg was not broken while we had him immobilised, but it turned out that he had dislocated it at the hip trying to pull out of the snare.  He was evidently in a lot of pain and such an injury would not heal naturally, so very sadly he had to be put out of his misery.  Another waste of an animals life by these cruel snares.

But despite the sad ending, I learned a lot, which will equip me better to deal with such incidents in the future, and for the buffalo, it was a lot better than a slow death from dehydration and starvation in the snare, coupled with the pain of a dislocated leg, so I do believe that we still helped him.

Hopefully the next post will bring some cheerier news!

Rosemary

Tags: buffalo, buffalo calf, poaching, snaring, zimbabwe

4 responses so far

Category: Wild Dogs, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: Aug 08 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Rosemary here again - sorry I have been quiet recently; I was away for a while and then have been busy in the field since I got back.  Anyway, the day before yesterday I got a call about a badly snared dog.  We rushed straight out but didnt manage to find the dog again, although our tracker Misheck did manage to follow the tracks from where the dogs had been seen and locate a den site.  This was good news: not only was that another den site located but it would give us a chance of finding the injured dog again.  So yesterday morning I went out again and fortunately we found the snared dog near the den.  The wire from the snare was all around his neck and clearly irritating him, and the wound looked bad (note the wire in the photo below)…

 Luckily we successfully managed to immobilise the dog and remove the snare.

The wound was pretty bad but fortunately had not cut through the wind pipe and was fairly clean, so I think we got there in time…

Fortunately I had my family visiting me and all were very helpful ensuring the dog got the best possible care.  We cleaned and disinfected the wound and gave him a dose of long-acting penicillin to prevent infection.  Then we gave him the reversal drugs and watched him until he was safely on his feet again.

When I checked on him this morning, he was with the other males in the pack and looking fine - it was clearly a relief to him to be able to rest his head without the snare wire catching on things. 

So that was a pretty busy morning, but about half an hour after I got back home, I got a call to come and rescue a buffalo calf caught in a snare.  Again we successfully managed to do this, and I will post a blog about it in a few days.  But I just want to thank those who donated money for the drugs because had I not had those drugs I would not have been able to help either the dog or the buffalo.

Back soon,

Rosemary

Tags: darting, injury, poaching, snaring, wild dog immobilisation, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe

2 responses so far

Category: Other wildlife, Uncategorized, Wild Dogs, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: May 01 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Zimbabwe’s wildlife needs some help…  Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will know that poaching - especially snaring - in the remainder of Zimbabwe’s wildlife areas is posing a severe threat to the viability of our wildlife populations.  I recently got back to the Savé Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe’s south-east lowveld from a couple of weeks away in South Africa.  Informally chatting to people back in the conservancy, the scale of the poaching problem facing our wildlife struck me forcibly once again:

“… unfortunately we lost a giraffe to a snare last week”

“… if you see those tracks of the elephant calf dragging the snare, let us know”

“… yesterday we saw a badly injured wildebeest dragging a snare, with a log attached to it; I wish there was something we could do”

“…I found a zebra with a snare round its neck, and told the manager who came to shoot it” (report from one of my scouts)

The desperate situation in the country is one cause of this enormous upsurge of wildlife poaching.  However, whilst some of this is genuinely ‘subsistence hunting’ to feed families, many people have taken advantage of the chaos and lack of law enforcement to turn to commercial poaching.  The scale of this is extortionate and un-sustainable. 

A recent article published in the Times  highlights the problem for the rhino population.  This article is well worth reading. 

The aftermath of rhino poaching

In this blog, I have frequently highlighted the problem for the wild dogs. 

But it is not just these key species which are suffering.  Snaring (the main form of poaching used in this area) is an indiscriminate, cruel and wasteful method of killing.  In my post of 2^nd April, I gave some facts and figures about this, and just want to reiterate the main ones:

In a seven year period, conservancy scouts have removed over 75,000 snares and found over 6,000 animals dead (these included rhinos, leopards, wild dogs, sable, nyala, cheetah etc).  And the wastage, as mentioned, is horrific. Of the 1,421 animals killed in snares during August 2005-November 2008, 60% were found rotten or scavenged, and only 14% were extracted by illegal hunters. 

This  magnificent leopard was caught in a snare in Feburary this year

However, it is by no means all doom and gloom and the good news is that there are a lot of dedicated people trying to help.  Progress is being made at all levels.  Here are some examples of things that are being done:

- The establishment of a project with EU funding to provide a legal supply of bushmeat to the surrounding communities to alleviate some of the poaching pressure

- A creation of awareness amongst the local politicians and at government level, as well as internationally

- Anti-poaching teams on all ranches and efforts to establish a ‘crack-unit’ of highly trained and armed scouts to operate throughout the conservancy

- Efforts by trained and licensed biologists to rescue wildlife trapped in snares and to immobilise and treat injured individuals carrying snares

We at the African Wildlife Conservation Fund are instrumental in helping to achieve all these goals. However, it is to help us achieve the last goal that we need your help.  I recently received training and a license to immobilise all wildlife species within the conservancy for the purposes of desnaring and treatment.  There are two other people in the conservancy who are also now licensed to do this, and between us we hope to be able to help the wildlife. 

Snared wild dog immobilised for treatment

Unfortunately, as mentioned in the post of 2^nd April, the cost of the drugs required is very high.  For example for enough drugs to immobilise 10 wild dogs (including the knock-down drug, the sedative and the reversal) would cost US$500, i.e. $50 per dog.  For herbivores however, the drugs are much more expensive.  One vial of the main knock-down drug (5ml) and its reversal costs US$600.  Depending on the species, this would immobilise between 5 to 10 animals, assuming no darts miss.  However, in addition to this drug, you need a sedative drug which costs US$106 per vial, and at least 2 vials of the human antidote (because this drugs is life-threatening to humans) which cost US$200 per vial.  So in order to be ready to help treat wounded wildlife, we need to buy at least US$1500 worth of drugs (and that’s only a start…).

We are also supporting the conservancy anti-poaching efforts by trying to raise money for incentives for the game scouts, and also for radios and uniforms for them.  Any donations to either of these causes would be extremely appreciated, and we can assure you every cent goes directly to the wildlife or the scouts.

Many thanks in advance,

Rosemary

Tags: poaching, snaring, Wild Dogs, Zimbabwe's wildlife

6 responses so far

Category: Other wildlife, Uncategorized, Wild Dogs, elephants, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: Apr 02 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

This is the first appeal I’ve ever put out on Wildlife Direct, but the time has come to ask for some help.  As you all know, the desperate situation in Zimbabwe is resulting in, amongst other things, a huge amount of wildlife poaching.  Much of this is for commercial purposes by persistent poachers and the level at which it is occurring is currently unsustainable.

As you’ll have seen if you are a regular reader of this blog, wild dogs are severely threatened by snaring, not only in the Save Valley Conservancy, but throughout the country.  But it is not only wild dogs that suffer.  Snaring is an indiscriminate killer – between August 2001 and October 2008, 5,981 animals of 30 different species were killed in snares.  These included endangered African wild dogs, lions, leopards, cheetah, sable  buffalo, wildebeest, nyala, impala, kudu, zebra, giraffe and even elephants.  On one occasion, one snare line killed 18 individual animals. 

 74,390 snares were recovered between August 2001 and October 2008

Almost the biggest problem with this method of poaching is the wastage.  Of the 1,421 animals killed in snares during August 2005-November 2008, 58.8% were found rotten or scavenged, 27.3% were recovered by the ranch or taken to the police as evidence and only 13.9% were extracted by illegal hunters.  This is a truly shocking waste of the wildlife resource.

However, the deaths in snares are only one part of the story.  Many animals manage to break the snare wire and free themselves, but continue to carry the snare around their neck or leg or trunk.  Many of these die and go unrecorded, and many end up being shot because of their injuries.  Others continue to suffer from these horrific injuries until they die.  

This is where we come in and where we can do something to help.  Although I manage the Lowveld Wild Dog Project, the umbrella organisation for our project is a non-profit making organisation called the African Wildlife Conservation Fund (AWCF).  Given my position in the field in Zimbabwe, and my qualifications and licence to immobilise wild animals, I am in a position to help AWCF with their general conservation efforts, a large part of which is tackling this poaching crisis.  If we can be on standby for anyone to call us to help to free snared animals or treat injured ones, we could do a huge amount to help the wildlife here. 

So at this point I am appealing for help.  The drugs used to immobilise wildlife are not cheap.  They are less expensive for carnivores: for enough drugs to immobilise 10 wild dogs (including the knock-down drug, the sedative and the reversal) would cost US$500, i.e. $50 per dog.  For herbivores however, the drugs are extortionately expensive.  One vial of the main knock-down drug (5ml) and its reversal costs US$600.  Depending on the species, this would immobilise between 5 to 10 animals, assuming no darts miss.  However, in addition to this drug, you need a sedative drug which costs US$106 per vial, and at least 2 vials of the human antidote (because this drugs is life-threatening to humans) which cost US$200 per vial.  So in order to be ready to help treat wounded wildlife, we need to buy at least US$1500 worth of drugs (and that’s only a start…).

A buffalo caught in a snare that had to be shot because no-one had the drugs to immobile and treat it

If anyone feels they could contribute something towards this, we would be enormously grateful and you can be assured your donation will go directly towards helping wildlife in the most direct and hands-on way.  Any extra money that is raised above what we need to buy the drugs will be put towards the anti poaching units in the conservancy, to help buy radios, uniforms and ammunition.

I’ll sign off here, because this post is long enough now, but if anyone would like more information, please don’t hesitate to ask.  And please consider helping us: I know it’s a bad time economically, but if we don’t act soon, it’s going to be too late for Zimbabwe’s wildlife.

Thanks in advance,

Rosemary        

Tags: poaching, snaring, Wild Dogs, wildlife, wildlife immobilisation, zimbabwe

3 responses so far

Category: Wild Dogs, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: Nov 29 2008 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Dear everyone,

We spent two long days trying hard to desnare the snared pup in the Maera pack.

The first day we departed at 5.30am and using telemetry found the pack at exactly the same spot where a dry river crosses the dirt road where they had been resting the morning before. Graeme, who is qualified to dart and immobilize wildlife, joined Rosemary, Misheck and Roy. In low-range four-wheel drive, we approached them ridiculously slowly in the vehicle after pausing to prepare the tranquilizer dart. We halted every time they looked edgy or stood up; nonetheless as we got towards darting range—which is a mere 25 metres for wild dogs owing to their small size and thin skin—the Wild Dogs moved off through the trees. They moved off casually and slowly, not alarmed, but it was clear that we were disturbing them.

We were able to follow them the short distance to the next water-hole where we waited several hours, mingling two strategies—one being to approach the dogs using the vehicle, moving infinitesimally towards them and hoping not to drive them away before we got into range—and the other being to park in the shade by the edge of the water and wait, darting gun at the ready, for them to come down to the water to bathe and drink. That first day, the dogs came down several times to drink and bathe but the injured pup was not always among them, and not always within range. However, there was one moment when we had a perfect shot, and the dart apparently hit the pup squarely and discharged the drugs.

When this happened, the pup was clearly given a fright and the pop from the darting gun alarmed the rest of the pack, too. It felt like a shame to breach the trust we had built slowly accustoming them to the vehicle and staying absolutely motionless while they cautiously approached the water. However, we were trying to help. What a strange kind of hunting this was: for it is hunting indeed, in all respects except one—that we were trying to save a life rather than take one. And arguably our task was more difficult than hunting to kill, because we had to shoot one particular individual out of a whole pack, not any suitable individual—and we had to be in very close range, because to shoot further requires a higher velocity and can do much more damage to the animal.

When the dart struck the pup, he and the rest of the pack scattered. Assuming the dart had discharged into the pup and it would shortly be immobilized, we started a timer and split up on foot to comb the area and find the sleeping pup. We would have to be quick, because in the intense heat, an immobilized animal’s temperature will sky-rocket, and it will die rapidly from overheating, being unable to regulate its own temperature by panting, moving to the shade, etc.

The minutes ticked past and the sun beat down on us; we fanned out and circled around and could find no sleeping pup. When we reconvened, however, Misheck surprisingly reported that he had just seen the pack with the snared pup moving around and wide awake. Clearly, for some strange reason, the darting hadn’t worked—most likely, the drugs had discharged into bone rather than muscle, and so not resulted in immobilization. (The dart had clearly hit the pup—we found its hair on the needle—and the drugs had been discharged.)

We spent more time trying to follow the dogs to find another opportunity for a darting shot, but they were constantly on the move in inaccessible thick Mopane woods, and we were reluctant to further stress them.

Instead, we met again early next morning for a second attempt. This time, the pack had moved. We followed the radio signal and spotted them moving along a road toward another water-hole. Almost as we arrived, the pack killed two young warthogs—we heard them squealing and saw the Wild Dogs eating excitedly. I was glad to know that the injured pup would be eating today, although tried not to think about how hard it would be for him to swallow. He is growing every day, and that snare must cut every day a little deeper and a little tighter, squeezing the life slowly out of him as his body tries to develop.

We slowed to our ridiculous crawl and crept closer; again, as we neared the water-hole the pack moved off a short distance out of sight. We parked under a tree at the water’s edge and waited.

Hours passed, and the sun shifted, and we were no longer in the shade. After a long time, the dogs approached the water and came to bathe and drink. Cindy, as usual, was the first to enter—she apparently loves the water and has a particular taste for bathing. Others will follow her down, some more boldly than others: and some barely seemed to approach it at all—possibly naturally more timid individuals, possibly put off by our presence. Unfortunately, the snared pup is among the more timid.

However, he eventually came down to drink, and I was relieved to see him immerse is lower jaw and lap the water—water that will help keep him alive a little longer, as would the meat he’d eaten earlier. When he stood up and turned sideways, Graeme took a shot—it was a long shot, and difficult to see whether it had struck home. It turned out to have hit the ground and bounced. The pack scattered again, but moved off only a few dozen metres, staying in the vicinity of the water-hole.

Here’s a picture of them resting affectionately in the shade. They often lie touching each other. Here you can see one Wild Dog is resting its head and paw on the back of one of its friends. At one point several of them did this in a kind of chain of body-pillows, but I couldn’t get a picture of it!

We waited 8 hours at that water-hole for chances to dart the injured pup. Much later, the pack came down to drink again, but unfortunately the snared pup did not come to the water. One adult barked pointedly in our direction. The signal was so clear that it was unmistakable—he was saying to us, ‘Go away! Push off! Give us some space!’

Although we were as quiet as we could and sat still or almost still for hours on end, our presence was certainly keeping animals from their much-needed drinks. We saw Warthogs and Wildebeest come within sight but stay away because they saw and smelt us. It’s highly likely other creatures wanted to drink too, which we never saw.

One adult male warthog was the only mammal other than the Wild Dogs which dared to come to the waterhole while we were there. He was a beautiful specimen—if Warthogs can be beautiful—and showed all the quiet, solid confidence of a strong male. He wasn’t fazed by the Wild Dogs who were drinking not far along the shore, despite the fact that they’d killed two of his kin at the same spot hours before—possibly his own children. At one point, one of the Wild Dogs showed interest in him and began to stalk along the shore towards him. He simply grunted and charged at the Wild Dogs, who scattered without leaving. Then he went back to his spot to continue drinking.

In the picture, the warthog male has just charged towards with wild dogs which have scattered–the ones you can see are looking nervous and clumping together. At the end of the charge, the warthog just stood there and stared towards them. I was impressed at his fearlessness.

He was more concerned about us, but only showed this by taking his time and keeping an eye on us, rather than by any nervous caution. He drank slowly, and then stood motionless by the water’s edge for a long time. I could tell that he wanted to wallow, but was calmly assessing the situation. He eventually turned round and lay down in the shallows. Ah, that cool water! Were the water-hole less attended by possible predators, I’m sure he would have rolled in the mud.

All day a Hamerkop waded in the water-hole, stalking elegantly like a heron, darting its beak to catch insects and once, a frog. I was amazed to watch it washing its food—I wasn’t aware that birds do things like that. The frog was wiggling, and so the Hamerkop slammed it repeatedly against the ground to kill it properly. It would stop wriggling temporarily, and the Hamerkop would move back to the water, rinse the frog in the water, and then attempt to swallow it again. It would wriggle again, and the Hamerkop would repeat this procedure, always washing the frog before every attempt to swallow it, presumably to remove the sand that got stuck all over the frog when it was being bashed on the ground. Once the Hamerkop swallowed the frog while it was still wriggling, but then quickly regurgitated it and continued bashing and then washing the frog until the frog was finally properly dead. Then it washed it one more time and swallowed it whole. Shortly after that, the Hamerkop took a rest, perching on a dead branch nearby and emitting one satisfied white dropping onto the dirt away from the water.

The Wild Dogs were totally disinterested in the Hamerkop, which showed no fear of them, as you can see in this picture.

As it neared dusk, we could see the dogs still resting a hundred metres away through the trees. We decided to try approaching them instead. We drove through thick brush, squeezing between trunks and squashing small trees, wincing at the damage the woody vegetation would be doing to the underside of the vehicle.  Although they all got up as we got close, Graeme did manage to loose another shot at the pup, but in the thick vegetation, it also missed.

It was getting dark, and we were finally stumped. Disappointed, we drove home as the stars came out. We would have to wait for another opportunity when Graeme is available and the Maera pack are in a suitable location—and with luck the snared pup will still be alive, and we can have another go at saving its life. In the meantime, although the wound is nasty and the pup is clearly weakened, it can still keep up with the pack and is still eating and drinking—so there is hope yet.

Yours exhausted,

Roy

Tags: African Wild Dogs, darting, de-snaring, Hamerkop, poaching, snare, snare injury, snared pup, warthog, water hole, Wild Dogs, wildlife immobilization, zimbabwe

2 responses so far

Category: Wild Dogs, poaching | Date: Nov 21 2008 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Rosemary here again.  I’ve been away from the field for a couple of weeks but am now back in the conservancy and catching up with all the dogs.  I’m afraid I have some bad news to report though - Racoon, the young radio-collared female from the Bedford pack has been killed by poachers.  That makes her the second collared dog to be killed in snares in the past three months.

She went missing only a few weeks after the dogs left their den in early September, and we hadn’t been able to get a signal from the collar for a while, until yesterday… We were tracking from the top of a big hill trying to locate the Bedford pack, and as usual, doing an opportunistic scan for Racoon’s collar as well.  It was an enormous surprise to pick up a signal and I was very excited until I noticed that the area the signal was coming from was in an area of re-settled farmers (’war-vets’)…….

Anyway, we went off in that direction, and, accompanied by a couple that run Turgwe Hippo Trust ( a non-profit hippo conservation organisation based in the conservancy) and their scouts, walked through the bush following the signal.  Finally we came across a poachers den, with skins and bones scattered around and a fire for roasting meat.  The signal was coming very strongly from that area, but it still took us a good 20 minutes to actually find the collar, which had been cut off the dog and hidden under a pile of boulders!

Spot the collar…. (the bit of orange belt under all the rocks!)

It was very sad to find the conclusive evidence that Racoon had been killed - I had suspected that was the case for a while, but you cant help holding out hope until the evidence is there to show otherwise.

We didnt find the carcass sadly: chances are the meat would have been cut up and sold (labelled as something else as people dont officially eat wild dog meat!), and perhaps the skull taken for use in witchcraft medicine.  I guess we wont ever know for sure.  Whatever happened though, it is a sad and cruel end to the life of a beautiful, young wild dog, and illustrates all too clearly the threat popsed by snaring to these remarkable and highly endangered species.

Back soon,

Rosemary  

Tags: painted hunting dogs, poachers' dens, poaching, radio collars, snaring, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe

5 responses so far

Category: Wild Dogs, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: Nov 03 2008 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Dear readers,

Our scout Misheck radioed us 2 days ago to report that he’d picked up the signal of the collar on Sandy, a member of the Mapari Pack, coming from OUTSIDE the Save Valley Conservancy. He traced it to someone’s house in a village to the north-east—one of the mud-brick round thatched huts that most rural people here live in. We suggested he go close to the house with his antenna to make sure the collar was inside. Here’s what the collar looks like:It’s possible that the Mapari Pack were just moving through the area of that village, having wandered outside the Conservancy as they are free to do. However, this seemed unlikely, and the implications were obvious and sad: the Wild Dog Sandy had been killed in a snare and the poacher had brought the collar back to his house, not knowing that it would lead us to finding him out.

Tags: conservation, poaching, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 22 2008 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

I’ve had a few requests recently for a blog on the issue of wildlife conservation and the poaching problem in Zimbabwe in general.  This is a really important topic, and I will try to devote more time to it in future.  For now - here is a summary of some of the problems facing the wildlife in the Save Valley Conservancy and Zimbabwe in general…

Poaching for meat in Zimbabwe represents a severe threat to wildlife populations throughout the country. The collapse of the economy, high levels of unemployment and food shortages mean that there is a huge demand for meat, and large numbers of unoccupied young men ready to exploit the opportunity to make some money and food through poaching. The land reform programme, settling thousands of small scale farmers on former game ranchland also contributed greatly to the levels of poaching.

On most game ranches that were occupied by small scale farmers following the land reform programme, wildlife has been completely eradicated. Most poaching for bush-meat is done with wire snares, which are particularly undesirable from an ecological perspective. Snares can result in the removal of large numbers of animals quickly, and can deplete wildlife populations severely within weeks if allowed to proceed unchecked. Snares are unselective, and kill a wide range of mammals, including animals not specifically targeted by poachers, such as wild dogs and lions.

A wild dog killed by a snare

Snares are hard to find and thus hard to control. Snares are wasteful – poachers often set them and then fail to check them, resulting in the death of animals which end up just rotting in the bush. Finally, snares are inhumane. Animals are caught in snares when they put their head, or a limb through the wire noose, which then pulls tight as the animal attempts to escape. The animal then dies through asphyxiation or through dehydration. In many cases, animals manage to break the snares, leaving them to walk around with a cutting ligature on a limb, or dragging a broken branch to which the snare was attached.

A lion caught in a snare - an unnecessary waste

In the south east Lowveld, our study area, wild meat poaching has resulted in dramatic declines in wildlife populations over the last few years. In Save Conservancy, our focal study area, almost 30,000 snares have been removed by anti poaching game scouts in the last 2.5 years. Unsurprisingly, in the parts of the conservancy worst affected by poaching, wildlife populations are declining sharply.

So what can be done to address the bush-meat trade? Poaching is always likely to be a problem in the current economic environment, where poverty is extreme, employment opportunities are few and food is short. Preventing poaching will be impossible unless there is an improvement in the political and economic situation. However, in the meantime, several steps can be taken. Firstly, there is a need to realign land uses where people have been settled in wildlife areas, and to provide a degree of separation from agriculture and wildlife. Where people live in wildlife areas, protecting wildlife is very difficult – as is protecting crops from damage by wildlife. Secondly, there needs to be a major effort to provide financial stake-holdings in wildlife ventures for communities, so that they gain benefits from wildlife which act as incentives for them not to hunt. Thirdly, there is a need for improved anti poaching security – and a change in the penal system to provide greater protection for wildlife. At present, the fines for poaching are less than the money that can be gained from killed one impala.

The 1990s was a period of unparalleled recovery and expansion of wildlife populations in Zimbabwe. The 2000s have been a period of unparalleled decline, driven by large scale bush-meat poaching. We need to do everything we can to reverse the current trend and get Zimbabwe’s wildlife - one of its greatest assets - on the increase again.

Rosemary

Tags: bushmeat, conservation, poaching, snaring, wildlife extinction, zimbabwe

7 responses so far