The Sunday Mail

Investigations Editor
WHITE colonial settlers were the pioneers of poaching as early as the 1840s with people like Henry Hartley accounting for 1 200 elephants in 30 years while Edward Chapman secured over 5 000 pounds of ivory as the colonialists plundered all manner of fauna.

According to information obtained by The Sunday Mail, those who wantonly exploited wildlife between 1840 and 1860 are Roualen Gordon-Cumming, William Cotton Oswell, William Charles Baldiwn, Jan Viljoen, Peit Jacobs, Goerge Wood, Hans Lee, Weestbeech, George Arthuer Phillips, William Fimnaughty and Thomas Leask. Finnaughty is said to have accounted for 500 elephants in his five year hunting escapade and FC Selous was also named as one of the big hunters who plundered African resources at will.
In 1891, Lord Randolph Churchill — father to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, also exploited wildlife under the British South Africa Company, which political pundits described as the ‘colonising corporate outfit’.
Church missionaries were also involved in the rampant poaching and this was exposed in a report written by Father Depelchin who was based in Matabeleland in 1879.
He wrote: “At the present moment most men are away from the town hunting elephant, giraffe, buck, lion and leopard. The hides will be sold to the English traders living in Shoshong. With my own eyes I saw heaps of skins in front of the Protestant minister’s door…”
Father Croonenberghs also weighed in: “Three months ago a load of 6 000lbs of ivory left Gubuluwayo. During our own journey northwards from Transvaal to Shoshong, we met several wagons carrying between them all, almost 20 000lb of elephant ivory. You can see that if hunting continues in this way, not one elephant will remain in this part of the country before very long. Then the hunters to push further north beyond the Zambezi and up into the very heart of Africa.
But it was his subsequent observation that was damning: “We, however, should be grateful because it is the elephant hunters, English and Boers, who have opened up Southern Africa as they came seeking for ivory.”

‘Rope in entire security sector ‘

Investigations Editor
THE security sector — police, army and the Central Intelligence Organisation should be involved in the fight against poaching because the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has no capacity to ward off poachers who are wreaking havoc in game parks.
This was said by a security expert who preferred not to be named for professional reasons in the wake of rampant poaching which has seen about 54 elephants being killed by cyanide poisoning by poachers. The official said the poaching syndicates were sophisticated and needed to be tackled in equal measure.
“Clearly, Parks has no capacity to manage conservation; this means that the whole security sector should be roped in to plug the rot. The other problem is that some of these poachers are actually Parks rangers and former employees. It’s a rot,” said the security expert.
Last week, a police officer and Parks rangers were arrested for their alleged involvement in a poaching syndicate which saw 22 elephants dying and three tusks missing in an area which they were guarding in the giant Hwange National Park. The National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority is hamstrung by funding challenges and a ban on the trade of ivory resulting in huge stockpiles of ivory at the Parks stores.
However, Parks acting spokesman Mr Tawanda Gotosa admitted that they were facing serious challenges in their conservation efforts.
“We also need the input of other forces (police, army and CIO); it’s critical that we work together. The good thing is that the security forces are collaborating. Most of our game parks are along the country’s border posts and as Parks, we don’t have control over that, so if we work together like what we are doing we will come up with results,” he said.

Govt tackles poaching

GOVERNMENT has set up an inter-ministerial committee that will craft new strategies in an effort to curb poaching incidences.
This follows the recent cyanide poisoning that has claimed around 55 elephants in five weeks with 23 of these being killed last week.
The ministerial committee comprises law enforcement agents as well as the Minister of Land and Rural Resettlement Dr Douglas Mombeshora who will assist in finding the reasons why rural communities are not supporting parks officials in the fight against poaching.
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) team has also begun decontaminating all the affected water points while rangers are blocking all animals from accessing water at the affected points until the decontamination process has been completed. — ZBC/Sunday Mail Reporter