| Poaching - reports and articles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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vultures feast and gloat over the farmers' demise Click here for - Resettled farmers face eviction |
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ZIMBABWE CONSERVATION TASK FORCE MEDIA AND ASSESSMENT TRIP - 11th APRIL TO 14th APRIL 2003 COMPILED BY JOHNNY RODRIGUES FRIDAY 11th APRIL I left Harare with Brian Hungwe, an SABC TV reporter and Davis, the camera man and set off for Chiredzi. When we got to Chivhu, we turned off and travelled along the Gutu Road. From Chivhu, we drove for approximately 300 km to Chiredzi and did not see a solitary animal even though we passed several game ranches and conservancies. Most of the game fencing had been vandalized, the wire obviously utilized to make wire snares. We passed hundreds of plots occupied by settlers who had destroyed the surrounding vegetation in order to plant maize which was in a sorry state due to the fact that this is a low rainfall area. Several of the plots were actually on the game ranches and conservancies. SATURDAY 12th APRIL We met Gerry Whitehead of Whitro Ranch, part of Chiredzi Conservancy. Gerry has been evicted from his ranch but we asked him how many animals are left on his property since the land invasions and he gave us the following figures:
It was estimated that 75 - 80% of the animals on conservancies countrywide are now dead at the hands of poachers. That afternoon we received information that the remains of a wildebeest had been found and 2 poachers had been arrested so we went to investigate. The poachers were interviewed by the TV crew. During the interview of the poachers, a truck came down the narrow strip road, laden with Africans and household goods. We stopped them and discovered that they were farm workers who had just been evicted from their home by war vets so they were also interviewed. They had no idea where they were going as they were now homeless. SUNDAY 13th APRIL We visited Gary and Theresa Warth of Wasara Ranch, part of Chiredzi Conservancy. Gary and Theresa are expecting to be evicted any day now. They are currently co-existing with 831 settlers, 436 of whom are the settlers' children. 84 013 metres of wire has been stolen from their game fencing since December 2001 and their wildlife which was previously abundant, is almost non existent. The only animals we saw at Wasara were 2 tame elephants which Theresa is training, a small family of warthog and one impala. Gary told us that the poaching is seasonal. The settlers prepare their fields, plant, then poach while waiting to reap and then eat the crops with the poached meat. This increases in winter until the cycle begins again. If the season is poor as in a drought year, the poaching will start earlier and be more intense. We then left the Chiredzi area and proceeded to Mike Clark's place in Mwenezi which is on the Beitbridge Road, 114 km from Beitbridge. MONDAY 14th APRIL Mike took us on a round trip through the Nuanetsi Conservancy, approximately 200 km on dirt roads. Throughout the whole trip, we literally did not see one live animal. Mike told us that 2 years ago, the same roads on which we were travelling were actually a hazard because there was so much wildlife there that if you didn't keep your attention firmly focused on the road, you stood a good chance of hitting an animal. We stopped at the game ranch of Lawrence Nicholson in Mateke Hills where the TV crew filmed the remains of a zebra and a giraffe which had been caught in snares. There is so little wildlife left, that it was even difficult to find dead animals, let alone live ones. We made our way back to the Beitbridge Road and paid a visit to Sam and Janet Cawood of Kleinbegin Ranch in Bubi. Sam and Janet are also co-existing with war vets. Kleinbegin is part of the Bubye River Valley Conservancy and Sam and Janet started their safari operation there in 1966, building up and protecting their wildlife for the next 30 years. They gave us figures of how many animals they started with, what the numbers had increased to by March 2000, and how much is left now. It must be noted that through breeding, the numbers increased significantly by March 2000 in spite of the fact that some animals were lost to predators such as cheetah, leopard and lion and others died during the drought periods.
These figures show that Kleinbegin has lost 95% of its wildlife to poachers in the past 2 years. In addition to game ranching, Sam was also doing cattle ranching. He was particularly upset about an area of 130 hectares which he kept free of cattle and wildlife. The purpose of this was to allow the natural grasses to grow for cattle fodder. There are 3 types of grass which grow naturally and are very valuable in cattle fodder. These are Panicum Maximus, Cenchris and Eurochloa. Through the years, he would reap this grass and pack it into bales and store it. During the drought periods when there was no grass growing for the cattle to feed on, Sam would bring out his precious bales of fodder and his cattle were never affected by the drought. He saw his cattle through 5 drought periods by doing this. Now, however, the war vets have ploughed up his 130 hectares of grass and destroyed it. They have planted their maize there which doesn't even germinate because this area is not suitable for maize, being a low rainfall area. CONCLUSION The devastation we witnessed on this trip was heartbreaking. I can't see any hope for our country unless we have a change of government soon. When we formed the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, it was with the intention of assisting National Parks to minimize the poaching before it was too late but with no law and order in place, and the government actually encouraging the slaughter, it is impossible to fight something of this magnitude. |
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