From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: ZIMBABWE: CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP TO CURB POACHING
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 05:48:18 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ZIMBABWE: CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP TO CURB POACHING


an inter press service feature

by tafadzwa matimba-mumba

harare, nov 10 (ips) -- zimbabwe's rhinoceros herd is being
forced to extinction by poachers unless international
intervention comes to the mammal's rescue.

this southern african country has since january lost more
than 1,500 rhinos -- all gunned down by poachers seeking its
horn.

as the desperate struggle to save the remaining herd of about
500 rhinos continues, zimbabwean conservationists say
international intervention is necessary to save the animal from
extinction.

between 1970 and 1992, africa's rhino population has declined
from 65,000 to about 4,000, according to wildlife experts.

despite ''operation stronghold'' -- a rhino saving campaign
conducted in zimbabwe since 1984, the country's rhino population
has been decimated by 80 percent, according to glenn tatham,
chief warden of zimbabwe national parks and wildlife society.

anti-poaching programmes are undermined by the game wardens'
inability to arrest poachers who escape into neighbouring
countries, the chief warden told ips.

''the situation is very bad. we've been faced with incursions
of foreigners so we have been given to re-acting to a situation.

''but the problem is that we cannot extend our enforcement
into neighbouring states. once a poacher crosses back into
zambia or goes up to tanzania, we cannot follow them'', he adds.

of the more than 160 poachers killed during incursions into
zimbabwe's national parks since 1984, the majority were said to
be zambians. four national parks and wildlife staff were also
killed during the encounters.

poor working conditions for game wardens and unrealistic
budgetary allocations by government to the anti-poaching
campaign also keep the zimbabwe rhino at risk.

national wildlife attractions and tourism earn zimbabwe about
130 million u.s. dollars a year, but the figure could be reduced
as wildlife is destroyed. (more/ips)


zimbabwe: call (2)

without opportunities for better earnings, people
increasingly find game parks easy sources of income.

for most poachers, tatham says, poaching is their sole means
of making an income and will increase as economic conditions
deteriorate.

on the black market, a kilogramm of a rhino horn can fetch up
to 30,000 u.s. dollars,  says dick pitman, chair of the zambezi
society, an environmental group with interests in wildlife.

according to pitman, the horn is used as an aphrodisiac in
south-east asia.

''the situation is that once poverty-stricken people start
poaching, they will not stop as they are just trying to make a
living. that's why we need an international think tank'', tatham
says.

with the rhino population depleted, poachers are now turning
their attention to the country's elephants, numbered at 70,000.

between 1984 and 1989 zimbabwe lost 83 elephants to poachers.
but since then, game park wardens report a toll of more than 50
jumbos killed every six months for their tusks.

''from 1989 when the rhinoceros population became low, they
(the poachers) started to focus on the country's elephants'',
says tatham.

africa's elephant population is estimated at 600,000 although
large declines have been experienced in east and central africa.

of the 70,000 herd in zimbabwe, 35,000 are in national
parks while about 25,000 co-exist with people in communal areas.

''we need international reaction on the illegal trade of
rhino horns'', tatham says. (end/ips/tm-m/ro/ar/92)

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