He who lives by the sword . . .

Herald Reporter
June 18, 2010

RANGERS from the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority have shot and killed one of Zimbabwe’s most wanted rhinoceros poachers who had been on the run for close to 20 years.

Samuel "Big Sam" Mazhongwe, who came from a family with two other known poachers, died last week after a shootout with Parks rangers at Mazunga Ranch in the Bubye Conservancy.

Parks Authority public relations manager Ms Caroline Washaya-Moyo on Wednesday said Mazhongwe was in the company of two unidentified poachers who fled the scene.

She said on June 6 this year, Mazhongwe, who was armed with an AK-47 rifle, spotted the game rangers and shot at them.

The rangers returned fire and hit Mazhongwe.

"Mazhongwe tried to flee, but the rangers followed his trail and found his corpse," she said.

Ms Washaya-Moyo said Mazhongwe’s poaching history dated back to the 1990s when he targeted elephants in the Zambezi Valley.

She said Mazhongwe’s name began featuring prominently in rhino poaching syndicates around November 2008.

On November 1 of that year, two other notorious poachers — Herbert Museka and Lovemore Mutsogo — were arrested after their vehicle overturned along the Beitbridge-Masvingo Road.

The two were found in possession of an AK-47 rifle, four charged magazines and two rhino horns.

"One of the passengers — Mazhongwe’s cousin Chamu-norwa — died on the spot, but Samuel managed to escape with another AK-47 rifle.

"Museka and Mutsogo incriminated Samuel Mazho-ngwe whom they referred to as ‘Big Sam’ as the main sponsor of their illegal activities.

"Days later, Museka and Mutsogo absconded court in Masvingo where they were being tried," she said.

They were yet to be found.

On October 27 last year, one Tichaona Mutyairi was captured during a shootout with police and Parks rangers at Matendere Ranch in the Save Valley Conservancy, but another Muzhongwe, Ishmael, escaped.

Mutyairi is serving a 17-year jail term for rhino poaching and illegal possession of arms.

Ms Washaya-Moyo said police were still looking for Museka, Mutsogo and Ishmael.

His death is great news.

Must have missed a payment.

Is there a quota on poachers? All jokes aside, would anyone actually shoot a poacher?

Shooting poachers is a losing battle. To stop this kind of poaching, you need to destroy the market for their goods.

quote:

Originally posted by talentrec:
To stop this kind of poaching, you need to destroy the market for their goods.

No way. Not only will that never happen, it has never worked - and it has been the MO of the antis for decades.

The only approach that will work is to ensure the supply of goods by encouraging game ranching.

quote:

Originally posted by sevenmagltd.:
Is there a quota on poachers? All jokes aside, would anyone actually shoot a poacher?

My first reaction was, "without hesitation". But I'm not so sure.

When I was a junior and dangerous young officer in the British Army a Sandhurst friend and I put together a scheme to take our troops to Northern Kenya. The idea was to combine anti-poaching patrols for KWS with training for our men and a break from Public Duties.

As our flimsy folder went up the ladder of London District command it received an increasingly unenthusiastic reception until it was ultimately nixed by someone senior enough to throw it in the bin.

Being young and idealistic (stupid, in other words) I pushed back with further justification for taking our guys down there. Eventually I was called in for an interview without coffee and told to stop wasting everyone's time. There was no way two young yahoos were going to be let loose with sixty tooled-up men in a friendly country. Our proposition was seen as being little more than an excuse to get down there with bergans full of 7.62 and start whacking all border crossers willy nilly.

I was peeved by this attitude from the brass as I genuinely believed that the best way to discourage poaching was to kill the guys involved in it and make sure everyone knew we were prepared to do a lot of it. Having had the chance to bimble around the area on my own time in the following decades I have changed tack. Most of the the poaching is for bush meat and I would find it hard to shoot those guys knowing that their plight is caused by the big-wigs down in Nairobi whose sole occupation is destroying the country for cash.

Organised gangs poaching for tusks, horns bones, etc? Yessir, let them have a taste of the beaten zone. Couple of watu after meat? Not so sure.

quote:

Originally posted by sevenmagltd.:
Is there a quota on poachers? All jokes aside, would anyone actually shoot a poacher?

Hell yes, if he shot at me first!

Mad Dog

What if he hit you first? I'm thinkin if you know there poaching best shoot first.Unless your PH runs then I guess you better run.

quote:

Organised gangs poaching for tusks, horns bones, etc? Yessir, let them have a taste of the beaten zone. Couple of watu after meat? Not so sure.

Agreed!

Shoot em ALL, just don't get caught doing it!

Never shot at one, and never would, but have held one at gun point as the PH, scout and trackers took off after the others who had a gun.

I have also seen them get shot at, and saw a game scout that was shot in the hip by a poacher with a muzzleloader! The other scouts shot and killed the poacher. Before they went after the poachers I talked to one of the scouts, and I asked him their plan. He said, "we will get revenge by 20!" I said, "what does that mean?" He responded, "they shoot one of us, we shoot 20 of them!" Sounded good to me.

Worst thing I have seen was an impala freshly caught in a snare, we were able to release her and she seemed fine. Then about 20 minutes later we found the poachers abandoned camp with at least 100 dead animal skins, dried meat laying over 6-8 drying racks, etc. I actually filmed it all, it was unbelievable.

They fear only one thing, fire power by force.

Milo Shanghai

"Must have missed a payment".

Another example of typical English cynicism! {It was my thought exactly and I'm Irish} Top people in a criminal operation don't get caught that easily - and why did he open fire instead of taking off? Caught up and cornered? Somehow I don't quite believe the official account.

"Shoot em ALL, just don't get caught doing it!"

Pity Tom Cholmondeley did not abide by Aaron's rule. Both times!

Without wanting to put any noses out of joint.

It's easy to sit behind the comfort of a computer and get all gung ho about it but before you actually put action into words, you need to consider a few things...... such as do you want to spend time in an African jail awaiting trial, do you want to spend a very long time in an African jail if found guilty...... remember, guilt and/or justification might actually have very litte to do with it. All you have to do is shoot the wrong poacher and you'll be found guilty even if your shot was perfectly justified.

Also ask yourself if you really do want to take human life and take those risks I've just mentioned.

You also have to bear in mind that even the shooting of a top elephant/rhino etc poacher won't achieve a single thing because they'll always be 101 others waiting in the shadows to step into his shoes so they can feed their families.

I'd suggest if poachers are going to be shot, (and I'm not particularly averse to applying rule .303), you should leave it to the professionals in the game dept and military who will have the protection of their office to shield them from vindictive ministers etc who's son it just just might have been that got himself shot and I'd also suggest you bear in mind that whilst you have a bolt action or a double, the poachers you're firing at will probably have AKs and the willingness and ability to shoot back...... probably rather well!

Do you want to take the risk of leaving your family without a husband and father just to sort out a problem that really isn't going to affect your life either way in the long term?

The other thing that needs to happen is for hunters to reward the locals if they conserve game. Not only give them meat but also a share (at least) of the trophy fees. Also use them as local labour at every opportunity. I appreciate some of these things happen in some areas but all of them need to happen in all places.... esp the remote areas.

In the Karamoja, the villages closest to where the animal was shot get the meat and they also get 75% of the trophy fees and the game dept get the other 25%. It's also been made clear to them that rule .303 will be applied to any local seen carrying a firearm, let alone poaching, by the game dept and military.

These combined policies have vastly reduced the local poaching and the locals also see poachers from outside their area as stealing food and money from them and consequently also police their own areas very well indeed.

The real answer is if you really want to stop the poaching, you need to nail the middlemen and the guys at the top and you surely won't ever do that with firearms.

There's been talk recently of the Chinese etc starting to farm rhino and whilst most people are dead set against it, I reckon it's a great idea. Let them farm species such as rhino, elephant and tiger etc to their heart's content, because it'll take the pressure off of the wild populations and reduce the risk of poaching. It'll also give more gene stores in case it's ever needed.

There is a big difference between subsistence hunting and commercial poaching.

Only a moron as a non resident tourist hunter would even consider shooting at much less shooting into a poacher in any african nation.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
Only a moron as a non resident tourist hunter would even consider shooting at much less shooting into a poacher in any african nation.

.........unless they're shooting at me. I rather side with Steve though. Not much upside to sticking my nose into someplace it doesn't belong! I don't think I'd have a problem killing someone IF I HAD TO, but I don't think this meets that criterion.

Brett

Most people who talk glibly about killing another person has probably neither been in a fire fightn nor, killed anyone: man, it ain't fun!