Villagers Support Anti-Poaching Efforts To Save Elephants

Hwange communities are working with environmental watchdogs in the fight against elephant poaching. Image by WWF

BY LETHOKUHLE NKOMO | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | MAY 6, 2022

Through sports, arts and song, wildlife and environmental watchdogs are working with communities in the fight against wildlife crimes like elephant poaching which was once considered a green matter and have moved higher up on Zimbabwean central security and policy agendas.

HWANGE (The Citizen Bulletin) — “The elephant was dead, but not tampered with. If I had dehorned the animal it was going to be a crime that will haunt me for the rest of my life,” says Brine Ncube, a witness in a wildlife poaching case in Hwange.

Ncube is among a number of villagers in Mashala who have been educated about poaching and its consequences.

Petros Ndlovu, the Director of Shangano Arts Trust, says sports programs are proving to be an effective measure of crime prevention.

“Through arts and sports, we engage the community and encourage them to report wildlife crimes. It allows people to live in harmony with wildlife,” Ndlovu says.

“We have done performances in Lupote, Jwaphe, Cross Dete, Lukosi, Chezhou, Mabale and Shangano communities where we focus on poaching hotspots.”

Amos Gwema, a winner of the Tusk Wildlife award, says there has been a positive response from communities to the anti-poaching awareness campaigns using sports and song.

Statistics from Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) show that no elephant was poached in Hwange between 2020 and 2021.

In 2018, former Environment Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri urged wildlife rangers to adopt a “shoot-to-kill policy” against poachers, whom she equated to robbers.

“Some years, Hwange experiences elephant poaching of over 50 but having a zero poaching incident shows the importance of involving the community which is the first line of defence for effective wildlife conservation,” says Gwema.

A live elephant is worth more than $1.6 million over its lifetime, largely because of its ecotourism draw.

The country has tough anti-poaching laws and elephant poaching carries a severe sentence of at least 9 years.

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With poverty amid lack of jobs, the unemployed sometimes resort to criminal activities such as poaching to survive.

Leon Mwale, a Hwange youth entrepreneur, adds lack of recreation facilities in the district as a drive on youths to be involved in crime activities like poaching.

“It is also the reason why we have young girls who fall prey to teenage pregnancies and drug abuse. In the quest of trying to reduce drug abuse, it’s important for the young people to be entertained,” Mwale adds.

Mwale’s youth group coordinates sporting activities to raise awareness campaigns against drug abuse and crime in particular wildlife poaching.

China has long been one of the world's biggest markets for ivory. In 2018, China banned all trade in ivory but the illegal market is still thriving. The price can be as much as US$2,000, according to reports.

To bypass regulations, poachers often falsely label ivories as other natural or synthetic materials. Image by WWF

Gwema says community awareness campaigns against wildlife involving ex–wildlife convicts aiming at discouraging villagers against wildlife crimes were proving to be a success.

“Community is the first line of defence for effective wildlife conservation, and without community support, there is no success.”

“The judiciary is the last line of defence. If you see something say something, which is the message passed to the community through art and poetry,” he says.

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