Chronicle Editor
Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
TWENTY-TWO poachers were killed in more than 100 armed confrontations with the police and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) rangers in the last five years leading to the recovery of 94 rifles, 669 rounds of ammunition and 696 pieces of ivory.
The confrontations also led to the arrest of more than 4 000 poachers with 152 of those being foreigners.
Zimparks public relations manager Mr Tinashe Farawo told Sunday News in an interview that although the figures were a bit high, they were happy with the decline in poaching cases.
He said they have not recorded a single poaching of the country’s high-value elephants in Hwange-Matetsi Block for a long time now.
“Since 2019 to date, we have recorded 111 armed confrontations with poachers throughout the country. The highest was in 2019 when we had 56 armed confrontations. So, from 2019 to date, 18 local poachers and four foreign nationals were shot dead in the armed confrontations giving us a total of 22 lives that have been lost,” said Mr Farawo.
He said as an authority, they have managed to recover 94 rifles and the highest was in 2020 when they recovered about 23 rifles while they have already got eight rifles this year.
“We have also managed to recover 669 rounds of ammunition, the highest being in 2020, where 201 rounds of ammunition were recovered. This year, we have managed to recover about 10 rounds of ammunition.
“We have also managed to recover about 696 pieces of ivory in our operations and we have made more than 4 000 arrests throughout the country with 152 of these arrested being foreigners,” said Mr Farawo.
He said they continued to encourage people not to be found armed within protected areas saying those caught in the protected areas would be arrested.
Zimparks and the police have been working together since 2019 under an operation code named “nhaka yedu” where the police’s Support Unit, as well as the duty uniformed branch, carried out combined patrols with the Zimparks rangers.
Mr Farawo described the joint operation as highly successful, particularly in the Hwange National Park.
“We are working closely with a lot of Government departments like the police and the judiciary in our fight against the scourge of poaching. We have managed to record some really good progress where since 2021 we have not recorded any single poaching of our high-value elephants in the Hwange-Matetsi Block.
“We are working closely with a lot of conservation partners to make sure that we achieve our goal of zero poaching,” said Mr Farawo.
He noted that the success comes at a time when Zimparks through its 2024 Strategic Plan seeks to consolidate triumphs registered in wildlife conservation and strengthen co-operation with other stakeholders through continued protection of wildlife habitats and resource mobilisation for reviewing manpower levels to foster tourism development at its 65 facilities. — @nyeve14
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