Parks gears for wildlife census

Sunday Mail Reporter
July 13, 2008

THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (PWMA) has launched a programme to establish the population of the major animal species in the country by tapping information from stakeholders in the hunting industry.

THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (PWMA) has launched a programme to establish the population of the major animal species in the country by tapping information from stakeholders in the hunting industry.

The figures will enable the authority to establish whether the wildlife population is increasing or decreasing which will in turn help in the crafting of conservation strategies.

The exercise will also seek to establish the number of animals in private game reserves.

Parks spokesperson Retired Major Edward Mbewe said stakeholders from the hunting industry would meet in various provinces this week to provide information on various aspects of wildlife.

"The stakeholders in the hunting industry will be attending workshops that are meant to establish the game quota setting and how the wildlife is decimated and how it is conserved," said Rtd Major Mbewe.

He said the authority had deemed it fit to come up with strategies that promote organised hunting while also curbing poaching.

"We also intend to set the quotas for the next year during these workshops. We need to look at how big a property is and the number of game that can be kept at that particular area.

"Hunting is part of wildlife but people should not harvest and harvest but also conserve," he said.

The parks service counts they way the Zim gov't counts votes for Mugabe, than they are going to have some huge numbers of animals.

Do they truly want to know the total game populations (public and private) for conservation purposes? Or do they need an inventory of property available to be plundered?

Good question Sue.