By ADAM IHUCHA,-- SIX rare lions have been slaughtered by angry villagers outside
Tarangire National Park in western Arusha, tainting Tanzania’s reputation as
one of the remaining world’s lions safe heaven.
Nearly 100 furious Olasiti villagers at
Minjingu area shot down two lions and speared to death four others in
retaliation following the stray lions allegedly attacking and marauding three
donkeys in a kraal.
Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Lazaro
Nyalandu said the government was shocked and saddened by the incident, saying
law enforcers had launched
a manhunt in search of ringleaders behind the mass killing of lions
“This mass killing of lions casts a
bleak future for our wildlife treasure” Mr Nyalandu stressed.
He pleaded with communities bordering
the protected areas to refrain from taking the law in their hands.
“Whenever human-wildlife conflicts
emerge, they should report to authorities” Nyalandu stressed.
Nkaiti Ward Councilor, Mr Simon Abel says
over the phone that the battle between villagers and stray lions also left four
villagers injured by the lions, some seriously.
The villagers nursing their wounds at
Monduli district hospital were Jackson Mediutieki, Loserian Tobiko, Lebahati Korudini,
Jackson Mrefu and Msee Simon.
Tanzania Association of Tour Operators
(TATO) Chairman Mr Willy Chambullo condemned the mass killing of lions in
strongest terms possible, saying wildlife conservation was everybody’s
responsibility.
“Our hearts are bleeding. I wish the
villagers should have asked us to compensate for their donkeys rather than
slaughter the rare animals” Mr Chambullo explains.
TATO CEO, Sirili Akko says that
unfortunate incident demonstrates the communities do not see the value of
wildlife.
“We need to come together public and
private sectors so that we can strategize how best we can educate the local
people adjacent protected areas to coexist with wildlife in harmony” Mr Akko
explains.
There
has been a "catastrophic fall" in the number of lions in the
wildlife-rich-Tanzania in the last decade, thanks to the retaliation killings.
A recent survey
indicates that Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem, a country key lion’s refuge, has
been losing an average of 25 lions annually in the period under review.
Findings by the
Tarangire Lion Project show 226 lions have been slaughtered between 2004-2013
for marauding livestock.
Dr Bernard Kissui --
a leading lion researcher -- warned over extinction of the entire big cats
population and hurting a $1.9-billion-tourism industry, if affirmative actions
are not taken.
Lion is one of the
Africa’s big five animals in which Tanzania, just as any other African
countries with abundant wildlife, has been using them as a major tourism
marketing tool to attract tens of thousands of eager tourists each year.
Others are
elephants, rhinos, leopards and buffalos.
“Retaliation killing
of lions is a silent, but real threat to lion populations in the Tarangire –
Manyara ecosystem where incidences of livestock keepers spearing and poisoning them
have been recorded,” Dr. Kissui said.
The worst lion’s mass
killing was in 2009 where over 26 lions slaughtered by angry-villagers, near
Tarangire National Park.
Official estimates
show that there are between 15,000-16,000 lions surviving mostly in national
parks and game reserves with a smaller population in unprotected areas.
This is the largest
population in Africa and about 40 per cent of the total population of remaining
lions in the world.
Kishimay Ndalepoi,
one of the Maasai villagers said the lion was considered a great enemy in
Maasai community.
“Wherever the Maasai
encounter a lion, the only thing which comes up in his or her mind is killing
it,” said Ndalepoi, adding that a lion is an enemy, which could kill human
beings or livestock.
Available record
shows that the entire Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem faces a massive declining of
wildlife populations, due to an intolerable growth of human population, coupled
with ever increasing demand for land uses that is not compatible with
conservation interests.
Various studies
indicate that there has been a constant increase of unsustainable exploitation
of natural resources and land uses such as cultivation, overgrazing, charcoal
burning and settlements within the wildlife routes and corridors, flaring
human-wildlife conflicts.
Conservationists
argue that such detrimental impacts of human activities have since been felt on
core areas as well as foraging grounds, breeding sites, dispersal areas,
wildlife migratory routes and corridors.
The consequence of
this, experts say in a study, is a growing threat of land degradation and
fragmentation, which slowly, but surely, putting the Tarangire-Manyara
ecosystem at a risk of becoming an ecological island.
By implications in a
long run, the entire ecosystem will see a massive declining of wildlife
populations, genetic erosion and species extinction.
In additional, the
security of the resident animals in fragmented habitats becomes uncertain
because once squeezed into small patches, animals can not easily escape from
their enemies like predators and human influence.
Since no wildlife protected
area can be self contained ecological unit, core areas linking Tarangire
National Park with other wildlife protected areas and habitats should be
remained intact for the park to maintain its reputation as an important
biodiversity hot spot.
Deogratius Gamassa, a renowned-conservationist and the former Principal for African Wildlife Management College-Mweka, is on record as saying the eviction of the people within the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem and the two parks expansion were two possible options.
Deogratius Gamassa, a renowned-conservationist and the former Principal for African Wildlife Management College-Mweka, is on record as saying the eviction of the people within the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem and the two parks expansion were two possible options.
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