Hwange villagers, national park wild animals at war
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

From Pamenus Tuso in Bulawayo
issue date :2005-Dec-21

A WAR for survival is raging between villagers in the Mavalebu and Jambezi
communal lands in Hwange and wild animals in the vast Hwange National Park.
Game from the big sanctuary have strayed onto residential areas giving
villagers a torrid time with monkeys, baboons, lions, buffaloes and jumbos
now a regular sight in otherwise unfamiliar surroundings.
While the numbers of the big five have drastically increased this year,
those of smaller species such as bushbucks, warthogs and impalas have
dwindled as villagers hunt them down for the pot due to the high cost of
beef.
Elephants have become a nuisance destroying crops, vegetables and
infrastructure such as dams and roads. Villagers have classified the tuskers
as their number two enemy after lions which have killed an estimated 50
livestock in the last three months.
Big buffalo herds are also a regular sight along Hwange/Victoria Falls road,
and they too occasionally drift into adjacent residential areas worrying
residents, some of whom have been gored or trampled to death.
According to Chief Jonah Neluswi Shana of Jambezi, an elephant killed
Wallace Nyoni, early this year while on his way to Hwange to collect his
monthly pensions.
"People's lives have been lost mainly because some of them travel at odd
hours in game areas. This is dangerous because wild animals' reactions are
unpredictable. Shortcuts are not always best as we suspect that Nyoni might
have been killed on a shortcut path", said the chief.
Early this year, a buffalo in a bush adjacent to the national park, fatally
gored a woman herbalist identified only as Stembiso.
According to the Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous
Resources (Campfire), wild animals between January and October this year
killed 27 people in various districts. Besides people, the animals have also
devoured their livestock. Last month, lions killed 15 cattle worth over $200
million in the Chidove area near Victoria Falls.
Impatient villagers are now calling for the immediate elimination of problem
game in their vicinity.
"People in my area are no longer interested in Campfire. As I speak right
now they are planning demonstrations against the programme because they have
been losing their livestock while nothing is being done", said Chief
Nelukoba of Mavalebu, who recently threatened to poison a pride of lions
that had been terrorising villagers in the area, The chief accused the
department of National Parks and Wildlife Management of doing nothing to
stem the menace.
Chief Nelukoba who claimed to have lost half his livestock to the beasts
said nobody had been compensated.
"A compensation fund or some form of assistance for victims of wildlife
aggression will definitely alleviate the plight of villagers robbed of their
livelihood by the wild animals", said Chief Nelukoba.
Morris Mutsambiwa, the Parks director said the government had empowered
local authorities to manage all game under their jurisdiction.
He stressed that his department could only attend to problem animals in
areas outside their domain and when invited.
"As parks and wildlife management department, we can only act on problematic
animals in residential areas if invited by appropriate authorities. We
acknowledge the magnitude of the problem, but our hands are tied," said
Mutsambiwa.
On compensation, he said the present Parks and Wildlife Act did not provide
for victims of wildlife aggression, adding chiefs were free to raise the
issue in parliament.
Mutsambiwa said the problem could be resolved if Rural District Councils
ploughed back to the community proceeds from wildlife sales.
"The problem here is that some RDCs are not willing to plough back to the
community the proceeds from Campfire. For example, I do not see any reason
why the proceeds should not be used to erect an electric fence in areas
bordering national parks and conservancies and villagers," he said
Douglas Irvin, a wildlife conservationist suggested that the contentious
issue of land ownership complicated everything.
"If wild animals from national parks escape into villages, technically they
cease to be the concern of park's authorities. Hence, it is the
responsibility of concerned local authorities to ensure that these animals
are controlled. The latter is cheaper since people will be policing
themselves", said Irvin
He attributed the increase in stray game to new farmers who have been
accused of removing fences in the former conservancies.

When I get to the Deka in March I will see if I can help them out with their elephant problems.

Kathi:

These posts of yours serve a very valuable purpose -Unfortunately, the US media will never pick up that Africans get killed by animals (and snakes)- or that a native farmer has to stand by and watch as elephants destroy the crop intended to feed his family. (I have pictures of a stand of trees that look like WW1 pictures of what artillery did to a landscape. The pictures were taken about 3 days after a quite small herd of elephants went through. It is not a pretty sight) It interferes with the environmentalists'money raising to "Save the elephants" or "Save the leopards". How do you think that an international convention agreed that elephants and leopards were "endangered" - and scared the US Congress into supporting such a definition? How to counteract these types, I don't know. (In today's news I read that there are now more than half a million elephants in Southern Africa. Gee! I always thought that it would be the insects that would push us off the planet. Maybe not! Perhaps m'zou (or tembo) will be the winners!