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Kenya cracks down on poaching
08/07/2007 22:14 - (SA)
Nairobi - Kenyan wildlife authorities on Sunday intensified a crackdown on poaching and the illegal game meat trade a day after the seizure of hundreds of kilograms of zebra and wildebeest meat.
The state-run Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said its rangers and the country's police force had boosted efforts to halt poaching and clandestine trade.
"We have intensified our intelligence gathering on game meat and will do everything humanly possible to protect wildlife and people from the dangerous trade in game meat," said the agency's spokesperson Paul Udoto.
The agency said the trade threatened the country's wildlife, which had been severely decimated by poaching as well as a searing drought in recent years.
"The KWS is concerned that this illegal trade is not only wiping out priceless wildlife, but also posing great health risks to people.
'Stop the poachers'
"The uninspected meat has a very high risk of transmitting diseases like anthrax and Rift Valley Fever to people," said Udoto.
He urged local communities to stop poachers from killing wildlife on farmland across the east African country which largely depended on wildlife for tourism revenue.
"I can assure you that they do not hunt in national parks or game reserves, but poach in open farmland where wild animals roam freely," he said.
On Saturday, wildlife authorities recovered 213kg of zebra and wildebeest meat headed to popular markets in Nairobi. Three people were arrested.
Rangers also arrested seven Tanzanian professional poachers and their Kenyan guide in the country's southwestern Tsavo National Park.
The wildlife service said that Tanzanian poachers had crossed into Kenya because of a lack of wildlife in many parts of Tanzania caused by abuses of licensed hunting.
"KWS special operations personnel have stepped up security along the international boundary, having lost several elephants to poachers in the recent months," it said, adding that it would co-operate with the Tanzanian Wildlife Authority to police the border.
Last year, experts said illegal and uninspected game meat constituted at least 40% of meat consumed in Nairobi, posing a potential health hazard to least three million people.
President vetoed law
Kenya outlawed poaching and the reckless slaughter of wildlife in 1977, but allowed controlled culling of game meat. In 2003, activists had the activity banned completely.
In 2004, President Mwai Kibaki vetoed a law to re-introduce sport hunting and the killing of wildlife straying on to private land, which critics said would have hobbled conservation efforts.
Wildlife is the backbone of Kenya's key tourism sector, which last year earned the country 56.2 billion shillings (about R6bn).
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