According to John Muya, the principal wildlife officer (anti-poaching unit) in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the inadequacy of the weapons currently at the disposal of game officers is one glaring example of the problem at hand.
Responding to a query by The Guardian on the prevalence of killer crocodiles prowling in water shallows close to the shores of Lake Victoria, Muya said the small number of game officers available meant a perpetually-poor response time to reports of the reptiles attacking civilians.
Although the ministry has set up eight zones in the country to deal with dangerous situations posed by wild animals, the quickest responders to such incidents are invariably the district councils which are usually closer to the scene, he explained.
But that brings up another problem: There are only three game officers for every district and some of them don’t have a single weapon between them, Muya said.
Residents living on the shores of Lake Victoria in Geita region have complained of slow responses from their local authorities when called to deal with marauding wild animals who intrude on their dwellings and farms, endangering both lives and properties like crops.
They particularly referred to an incident last month in Chelameno village, Nyamboge ward, where a Standard Two pupil, Avelina Vitus (8), is reported to have died in the jaw-clutch of a lurking crocodile.
The girl was washing her school uniform ready for class the next day when the crocodile pounced and snatched her away in the presence of her two sisters. According to the villagers, it took some time for local game scouts to arrive on the scene, by which time the croc had long disappeared with its prey.
Interviewed by The Guardian in Geita recently, the district game officer, Kisese K. Kisese, said that sometimes he has to attend to such situations by himself because he has no back-up.
Moreover, the old weapons which he uses tend to misfire at times when aimed at ferocious animals, Kisese said. And not a single penny was allocated to the game section in this year's budget, he added.
According to Muya, Geita region is better off than some other regions in the country because it is in a position to fund its own wildlife-related activities out of the natural resources it is endowed with.
“In places like Geita where there is money accrued from local hunting and tourism hunting permits, there is a bigger opportunity to strengthen the wildlife department there,” the ministry official said.
He noted that many district authorities did not consider wildlife control an important activity “just because it does not generate money for the districts.”
“But they should consider the fact that the lives of people are paramount over everything else. The crops that these animals tend to destroy are also a big loss to districts as a whole,” Muya said.
He also revealed that Tanzania has a ‘consolidation scheme’ that provides funds to victims of wildlife attacks. For those who are killed outright, the consolation is Tshs 1 million/- which is collected by the victim’s family.
Victims who sustain serious injuries like losing a limb are given 500,000/-, and a 200,000/- consolation is paid for the loss of up to five acres of crops due to wild animals trampling on farms. There is a 50,000/- consolation for the loss of cattle, 25,000/- for goats, and 10,000/- for chickens.
“We have been paying this consolation money since 2011. For example, we will soon be paying a total of 148m/- to victims of wildlife attacks in the southern regions”, Muya said.
According to the Wildlife Conservation Act of 2009, there are seven recognized dangerous animals in the country; elephants, lions, buffaloes, hippopotamus, hyenas, crocodiles, and rhinoceros.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has set up eight zones in the country to deal with wildlife-related issues. According to Muya, these are Iringa, Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Ruvuma, Morogoro, Tanga and Bunda.
Additional reporting by Felister Peter
_0.jpg?itok=QU87XW8D){kind=tracking}
.jpeg?itok=vCj6bCRe)
