The arrests followed the establishment of the Wildlife and Forest Crimes Taskforce Team last year which coordinated intelligence operations on wildlife crimes in all ecological zones of the country.
We were also told that the task force confiscated 48 military weapons, 150 civilian arms, 1,085 bullets, 406 home-made guns, 22,307 traditional weapons, 20 vehicles, 79,831 cows and 4,043 kilogrammes of fish.
Despite success realised in the war against poaching, it remains one the major challenges affecting the wildlife department. More emphasis should now be put on solving community conflicts in conservation areas.
According to the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism a total of 2,097 cases related to poaching were registered in different courts, with 802 cases already decided.
Most of the cases resulted in convictions and lengthy prison sentences for the accused, but a total of 79 accused were set free after being found not guilty in 43 of the completed cases.
Another 469 accused in 276 other cases escaped prison after paying a total of 452 million/- in fines, while 966 other cases are still ongoing in different courts across the country.
We therefore emphasise the importance of some new measures taken to stop illegal poaching, including the use of drones and sniffer dogs. Intelligent surveillance in ecological areas showed that big poachers now tend to escape from the country before being caught.
But through collaborations with the likes of Interpol and the Lusaka Agreement Taskforce, many of these poachers from such countries as Uganda, China and Austria had been nabbed, with live animals including tortoises recovered in the process.
According to the ministry, a total of 29 foreigners were caught at Tanzanian airports, border posts, and ports while trying to sneak out with government trophies in their possession.
We commend the ministry’s initiatives in the fight against poaching for rampant ivory poaching had reduced the elephant population in Tanzania’s oldest and largest protected area by 90 per cent in fewer than 40 years.Nearly 110,000 elephants used to roam the savannas, wetlands, and forests of Selous Game Reserve—a World Heritage Site—in the mid-1970s. Now only 15,000 remain as criminals continue to kill the animals for their ivory tusks.
We are sounding the alarm for urgent action in combating wildlife crime in the reserve.
It’s not just elephants at risk. The continued decline of the species would deal a hefty blow to the livelihoods of local communities who depend on income generated by tourism in Selous.
It is imperative that Selous rangers and village game scouts in the surrounding wildlife management areas are properly trained and equipped; the judiciary system is strengthened leading to arrests and prosecution of wildlife criminals, and incentives are created for communities to protect their wildlife.
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