Death in the wildlife reserve
DARIUS MUKIZA
Daily News; Friday,January 16, 2009 @20:51


A dozen of wildlife including baboons, bush pigs, squirrels and bush babies in the Selous Game Reserve in Morogoro region, have been poisoned to death by unidentified people, the 'Daily News on Saturday' has established.

Several tourists and other people who witnessed the killings which occurred last weekend, told this newspaper that the killings seemed to have been deliberate. One tourist, Ms Rita Gazdag, a researcher with the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) who had toured the game reserve with her three friends, said they witnessed seven baboons, six bush pigs, two squirrels and two bush babies dying in agony.

Describing the incidence, Ms Gazdag said they had taken a walk when they saw many monkeys swaying around a heap of leaves and twigs and some of them
could hardly move and other animals were lying on the ground trembling.

“We did not know that they were suffering severely from the toxins that somebody had put in mangoes. The next day baboons, bush babies and other animals were found dead, as a result of the obvious heartless action of deliberate food poisoning,” she explained.

Ms Gazdag said that they made a close follow up by asking their guides on what could have happened to the animals due to their interest on animals. Later, according to her, it was discovered that there was a bag full of mangoes which had toxic was placed in the game area. She said that bag was later collected by game officials for laboratory tests.

“It was inhuman to kill those innocent animals,” she said sorrowfully. Another local tourist who preferred anonymity and who also visited the area , said the number of animals killed could be more than 30, since some of the poisoned were seen struggling to go into the bush.

Mr Kennedy Woolsrey, one of the directors of Selous River Hotel, said the animals could have been poisoned by villagers who always hunt ivory and crocodile skins illegally. He said it had been the tendency for poachers to kill animals by poisoning them, in order to get valuable parts like ivory and crocodile skins, adding that the discovered bag full of toxic mangoes and bread found in the game reserve was used to kill the animals.

Efforts to get comments from the Minister of Tourism and Natural Resources, Mrs Shamsa Mwangunga, proved futile yesterday. Her Deputy Mr Ezekiel Maige, said he was not aware of the incident.