Up to 60% of wildlife on privately owned game ranches and conservancies in Zimbabwe has been slaughtered since the land reform programme was launched two years ago, estimates Voiceless Victims, a Zimbabwe action group.
Wildlife experts believe that poachers may have killed up to 600 000 animals, including endangered black rhinos, since the programme to displace white farmers began.
Activists will use the World Summit for Sustainable Development later this month as a forum to highlight the carnage, emphasising how what is happening across the nearby border contradicts the values that delegates will be debating at the summit.
Many Zimbabweans are worried about the state of wildlife in their country, but they are campaigning silently. “In a country where one word can cost you your farm, you are extremely careful not to upset authorities,” a concerned game farmer said.
Interest groups are especially worried about the black rhino. It is being poached for its horn and faces extinction in Zimbabwe. Rangers used to monitor and protect the rhinos, but the war veterans who are the shock troops of the resettlement campaign have put paid to their efforts.
Voiceless Victims says it has confirmed that at least 10 black rhinos have been killed and 13 others have been treated for injuries. The action group fears that as many as 30 rhinos may have been killed in inaccessible areas. Private farms and conservancies protect more than 70% of the black rhinos in Zimbabwe.
Poachers have hammered the Bubiana Conservancy near West Nicholson. Seven commercial farmers formed the conservancy in 1991. Three have been forced to flee their land. About 20 of the 50 scouts have fled because of threats and intimi- dation, says Voiceless Victims. One of the farmers fears that 20 of the 40 black rhinos in the conservancy may already have been killed.
Poachers have even targeted a black rhino rehabilitation programme in the Matusadona National Park, near Kariba Dam. In April two rhinos were poisoned with an agricultural pesticide. War veterans who have invaded game farms have stripped game fences to construct snares.
Voiceless Victims says it has evidence that authorities have sanctioned the shooting of game to feed Zanu-PF youth militias.
“This country’s natural heritage is being decimated,” said a member of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. “Unless the government restores law and order, we can ultimately kiss Zimbabwe’s wildlife goodbye.”
The chairman of Chiredzi Conservancy says it has lost thousands of animals. “The settlers are chopping down trees, killing the game, setting snares and threatening to kill game scouts.”
A Zimbabwean who won plaudits for helping to rescue more than 500 elephants from the Gonarhezou National Park during the drought in 1992, is bitter about the state of wildlife in Zimbabwe. “I barely see animals on my farm now,” he said. “The president himself said the conservancies would not be taken for resettlement, but we have seen otherwise.”