WHEN news filtered elephants were dying like flies at the massive Hwange National Park, Cabinet ministers chartered private flights to the park to ostensibly assess the rotting carcasses of the wild animals in what ranks as one of the country’s devastating ma-made disasters.
In fact, the Cabinet ministers have made several sojourns to Hwange National Park as outrage intensified over the killing of elephants under the nose and eyes of parks officials charged with policing the wildlife sanctuary.
The government officials, particularly Environment minister Saviour Kasukuwere, said the government would leave no stone unturned in dealing with the crisis at the park in which independent estimates claim more than 300 elephants have died due to poisoning.
The poaching scandal confirmed that there are sophisticated syndicates bent on unleashing a terror against the country’s wildlife, albeit with the complicity of authorities and the local community, particularly the police.
On Friday, we reported that three police officers accused of demanding $10 000 from a syndicate fingered in the poaching and poisoning of elephants at the park were denied bail at the courts.
It would seem the scandalous poaching at Hwange National Park is a tip of the iceberg as it emerged on Saturday that there has been mayhem at Matopos National Park, about 30km from Bulawayo where criminals thought to be highly sophisticated killed and hacked off horns from two precious rhinos.
One of the rhinos was popular with tourists as reported by this newspaper yesterday. The two animals were killed for their horns which are thought to be gold in the Far East.
The rhino is endangered species. The Zimbabwe National Parks should not rest on their laurels and smoke out the poachers who seem to be taking advantage of the laxity of park officials to decimate our game.
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If it means calling the army, let it be.
The country is in desperate need of direct foreign investment and tourism is one sector which has been identified as a potential cash cow for the country.
But we need to put a stop to these cowboys that are roaming wild at our parks targeting our wildlife for personal gain. Let’s smoke them out.
