New wildlife protection legislation in the offing: Heavy-duty weapons now to tackle poaching gangs


THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam

THE Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism is drafting a tough, new law to pave the way for the establishment of a fully-fledged government unit with the mandate to use high-calibre weaponry against poaching gangs.

This is amongst measures announced by the minister, Shamsa Mwangunga, in an exclusive interview with THISDAY on plans to bolster the government’s anti-poaching unit and tackle illegal trade in game trophies.

She said the new wildlife legislation is set to be tabled in parliament next month seeking to enable the ministry to create its own special anti-poaching corps.

Ms Mwangunga said the measures are aimed at fighting poaching and keeping tourist hunting companies from breaching laid-down wildlife rules and regulations.

’’With advances in technology, poachers are now using highly-sophisticated weapons.The only way to confront them is by using equally-sophisticated weapons, and the proposed legislation seeks to give us that mandate,’’ she said.

With the ministry�s budget estimates approved by the National Assembly last Friday, Mzs Mwangunga cited other measures as including the introduction of better incentives for game scouts attached to tourist hunting firms.

’’This is to ensure that they (scouts) are not corrupted by hunting firms that are out to breach wildlife rules and regulations’’, she explained.

She said overall, the new anti-poaching measures are expected to boost big-game sightings within the country and ensure that the national tourism industry continues to soar.

Asked to comment on recent reports suggesting that some local hunting companies are engaged in illegal game trophies business, Mwangunga said the ministry was making a keen follow-up on the allegations.

Specifically, she acknowledged receiving a report on an Arusha-based hunting firm, Marera Safari Lodge and Tours (T) Limited, which is alleged to have breached hunting regulations in the Pawaga-Idodi wildlife management area (WMA) community in Iringa district.

The firm is facing allegations of having killed more animals than allocated under its licensed hunting quota for the area.

Industry watchers say poaching, coupled with increasing incidents of hunting companies killing more animals than their actual quotas, has become so widespread as to drive some particular wildlife species to the brink of extinction.

The minister said she had received a report compiled by senior wildlife division officials indicating that Marera Safaris had confessed to killing eight zebras instead of its maximum quota of four, during the July-December 2007 tourist hunting season.

’’According to the report availed to me, the company was penalized for the misconduct and paid 5 million/-,’’ Ms Mwangunga told THISDAY.

However, the report sent to the minister appears to contradict documents availed to THISDAY by the Pawaga-Idodi WMA community leadership, showing that Marera Safaris was given a hunting quota of two lions and eight zebras during the stated hunting season, but actually killed four lions and 13 zebras, thus surpassing its licensed quota by far.

According to another report prepared by two game scouts and submitted to the Iringa district game officer on April 30 this year, the four lions were killed between July 30 and December 31, 2007 by American tourists using permit numbers 19327, 17437, 19066 and 17697.

The report says the lions were killed in the Mdekwa, Igawa Lunda South and Kibaoni Lunda South areas. There are further allegations that the 13 zebras were also killed during the period under review.

Other documents seen by THISDAY show that the wildlife department has also received reports from members of the Pawaga-Idodi WMA community that Marera Safaris also secured hunting licences for at least two non-professional hunters, who then hunted animals without valid permits.

About a fortnight ago, a file containing key documents detailing alleged illegal hunting activities of Marera Safaris mysteriously disappeared from the Pawaga-Idodi WMA offices. The mysterious disappearance of the file came amid reports that the company had been let off the hook by Iringa district authorities despite the piling allegations against it.

The Marera Safaris Lodge and Tours (T) Limited managing director, Hilary Daffi, has denied the allegations against the company, saying in a telephone interview from Arusha: ’’The area in which we are operating is one of the most potentially-lucrative hunting blocks in the country. There is therefore pressure from some other hunters who want to remove me from the area.’’

Tanzania’s booming tourism industry is now earning the country around $1 billion a year, contributing nearly triple the GDP of agriculture, which has traditionally been the cash cow of the country�s coffers. More than 750,000 tourists are expected to arrive in the country this year, bringing in about $950 million dollars.