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Poachers go on killing spree
09/01/2007 20:17 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe has launched a massive security operation in its key nature reserves after poachers killed 17 elephants and two rare black rhinos during the holiday season, said state radio on Tuesday.
The country's security forces and extra rangers have teamed up in a joint operation dubbed Operation Stronghold in the wildlife-rich northern Zambezi Valley and in the Hwange and Chizarira national parks, said the report.
The National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority director-general Morris Mutsambiwa says the organisation has joined forces with the police, national army and the air force to intensify the operation in the Zambezi Valley, Hwange and Chizarira game parks, which are the worst affected.
The latest killings took place during the festive season. Poachers from countries north of Zimbabwe are believed to be behind the killings, said the report.
Poachers from Zambia, who almost decimated Zimbabwe's black rhino population in the 1980s, have easy access to the country's wildlife sanctuaries across the Zambezi River, which forms a border between the two countries.
Hwange's elephants are a major attraction for tourists. There are about 45 000 elephants in Hwange national park. Conservationists say they pose a risk to the ecology of the park, which is suitable for just 15 000 elephants.
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