Harare | Wednesday
MORE than 50 rhinoceroses have reportedly been snared or killed in Zimbabwe by cartels working in cahoots with newly resettled villagers on farms adjacent to wildlife conservancies, a state daily reported on Tuesday.
The Herald, quoted Environment and Tourism minister Francis Nhema as saying that there has been an unprecedented level of poaching on some farms over the past few months by people taking advantage of the country’s land reforms.
The animals killed included both black and white rhinos, the report said.
Nearly 100-million Zimbabwe dollars ($1.8-million) worth of wildlife has been lost to poaching, illegal movement of wildlife, over-hunting, subsistence and commercial poaching in ranches and other game areas recently, according the report.
A recent World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report states that wildlife in Zimbabwe’s conservancies is now severely threatened by illegal invasions by war veterans and landless villagers.
Last week war veterans issued ultimatums to some white farmers in Zimbabwe to leave their farms with immediate effect.
Among the affected farms are some private conservancies whose wildlife has been indiscriminately ravaged by the war veterans.
Zimbabwe has earned more than two billion Zimbabwe dollars ($36-million) annually from sport hunting over the past four years. – AFP