Poachers gun down five elephants

Victoria Falls Reporter
May 13, 2010



POACHERS have reportedly gunned down five jumbos worth hundreds of dollars for their tusks in Kazuma and Pandamatenga Parks near Matetsi National Park as poaching raises its ugly head.
While there is a ban on ivory trade by the Conference of Parties to Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites COP), poachers continue to wreak havoc as they trade on the black market.
According to officials from the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the Forestry Commission and private stakeholders, a patrol team stumbled upon five elephant carcasses in Kazuma and Pandamatenga in Matetsi area.
“The poachers are still coming and they will not stop considering that in every kilometre there is an elephant in the park because they are increasing in population everyday,” said a parks ranger on condition of anonymity.
He said after observing the carcasses, signs were showing that one was gunned down in March while the other four where put down in April.
“The ivory had been removed and what remained were just carcasses,” he added.
Meanwhile, residents in Hwange West are living in fear from the elephants that are now roaming the streets and fields even in broad daylight.
Parks officials said the jumbos were running away from the park area because of the poaching that is taking place.
“Once one of their clan is shot down, the whole group runs away and that is why these days they are seeking refuge in town and villages.
The villagers and residents do not kill them, but are chasing them away only.
“So plans are underway to intensify patrols in the national parks but the challenge is that the parks are just too big to patrol successfully. That is why sometimes there are joint operations involving the army, police, Forestry Commission and the private players in the industry."
Poaching is very common in Kazungula, Pandamatenga and Kazuma.
Elephants have been destroying pre-cast walls and perimeter fences worth hundreds of dollars in search of fruit and sugar cane in residents’ yards.
The elephant population in the country now stands at a staggering figure of around 100 000.
This is too much considering that the country’s holding capacity is just plus or minus 45 000.
Efforts to get a comment from the NPWMA public relations manager Ms Caroline Washaya-Moyo were fruitless as her mobile phone was not reachable.