Problem Animals Pain Villagers
Friday, 19th of October 2007


By Wezi Tjaronda

OPUWO

Problem animals are keeping villagers on their toes in the Kunene Region.

The damage caused by the animals – elephants, lions, hyenas, cheetahs, jackals and others – adds salt to the wounds of communal farmers who are already losing livestock to drought.

Farmers say apart from having to repair infrastructure damaged by elephants, they have to buy diesel more frequently to accommodate the jumbos’ insatiable appetite for water, yet they have no money as many of their cattle have died.

A senior counsellor of the Vita Royal House Muhata Kapi said the way the Government protects wildlife makes communities feel wildlife is more important than human life.

“People vote for the leaders, elephants don’t. People give these elephants water, yet they are not protected,†said Kapi.

He said with the Government’s stand not to compensate victims of problem animals, conservation proves problematic.

A community game guard of the Oukwaludhi Conservancy, Gustav Tjimhiva, told New Era this week communal farmers have to go against all odds to ensure water is available, for fear of elephants destroying their water infrastructure and homesteads.

He said elephants drink a lot of water, which forces farmers to buy more diesel than they need to pump extra water.

Aggravating the problem are hundreds of farmers that have moved into areas of Omakange and Ongandjera, which border Kunene, in search of better grazing for their animals.

Tjimhiva said although the problem of elephants in the area is an old one, it has been made worse this year because the same boreholes have to supply water not only to the community members and wildlife, but also to the farmers that have moved into the area as well as their livestock.

Some conservancies have come up with forms of compensation to farmers that lose livestock to problem animals. They pay a certain amount of money for losses of different livestock and destruction of gardens.

However, when an elephant kills a person, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism gives the deceased’s family N$5 000 funeral assistance. If the animal that caused the death is found the ministry gives orders for the animal to be killed.

However, some feel the elephant or animal that kills a human being should be sold and the proceeds given to the dependants of the deceased.

“Sometimes, the deceased is a breadwinner and leaves a wife and children behind who need support,†said Kapi.

Since the advent of the Community Based Resource Management Programme, wildlife numbers have increased, thus also increasing incidents of human wildlife conflict.

“Increasing frequencies of problem animal incidents are doubtless a consequence of both larger numbers of animals and reduced persecution by people,†says a book Namibia’s Communal Conservancies- A review of progress and challenges.

Kapi said it seemed that problem animals were untouchable, “that is why they harass people like thatâ€.

The book said living with animals carries a cost such as damage to crops especially in the Caprivi Region, and damage to boreholes and water installations in t northwestern areas. In 2003, more than 2 100 incidents of problem animals were reported countrywide in conservancies.


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