By Lucas Liganga,The Citizen Reporter
Posted Saturday, December 28 2013 at 09:02
Posted Saturday, December 28 2013 at 09:02
In Summary
- The
tourism industry and conservationists are concerned about the
rate of elephant killings which pose a threat to anti-poaching operations
To be precise, 2013 saw Tanzania
turning into a killing field for elephants, a crisis that threatened to bring
the jumbos to the brink of extinction.
During independence in 1961, Tanzania
had 350,000 elephants; but poaching had resulted in the population of the
jumbos going down to about 55,000 in 1989. Thanks to an anti-poaching operation
christened Operation Uhai in 1989/90, the population rose to more than 100,000.
This operation was followed by
another called Operation Kipepeo in 2009 headed by deputy commissioner of
police (DCP), Venance Tossi. The outcome of this operation was not made public
apart from the daily basis reporting of arrests of poachers and seizure of fire
arms used in poaching.
As memories of these two
anti-poaching operations were relegated to the archive, fresh reports emerged
this year indicating that poachers kill an estimated 30 elephants every day, or
about 850 every month. The number of elephants dropped from 130,000 in 2002 to
109,000 in 2009 and wildlife experts have warned that the entire population
could be wiped out by 2020 if the trend continues.
This gloomy prediction forced the
government to form another operation on September 5, 2013—the infamous
Operesheni Tokomeza Ujangili.
To the dismay of wildlife
conservationists this operation was suspended indefinitely due to claims of
civilian abuse, torture, extortion and murder.
By the time it was suspended in the
first week of November, 952 suspected poachers had already been arrested, 104
pieces of ivory seized, 631 firearms—including 13 military weapons—had been
seized during the operation jointly conducted by the Tanzania People’s Defence
Forces, Tanzania Police Force and Tanzania National Parks.
Addressing Parliament in Dodoma last
month, the President Kikwete said the special anti-poaching operation which was
suspended last month will soon continue, adding that every thing should
be done to ensure the project is running again as soon as possible. “The
problem (poaching) is frightening. A lot of ivory has been impounded inside and
outside the country. In total we are talking about 36 tonnes of tusks which
equals to around 15,000 elephants,” said President Kikwete.
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