According to Zimbabwe’s environment minister ivory poachers have killed more than 80 elephants by poisoning water holes with cyanide within the past two months.
Saviour Kasukuwere said the elephants died in the Hwange national park, while security forces were preoccupied with a July 31 general election.
Police and rangers have recovered 19 tusks, cyanide and wire snares after a sweep through villages close to the park, which lies just south of Victoria Falls.
“We are declaring war on the poachers,” he said.
“We are responding with all our might because our wildlife, including the elephants they are killing, are part of the natural resources and wealth that we want to benefit the people of Zimbabwe.”
Zimbabwe is home to some of Africa’s largest elephant herds, with half of its estimated 80,000 elephants thought to be in Hwange.
Mr Kasukuwere, who was appointed to the environment ministry a week ago, said he would push for stiff penalties for convicted poachers, who routinely get less than the nine-year jail term imposed for cattle rustling.
Zimbabwe is working to revive its tourism industry, including its wildlife sector, which has suffered years of decline blamed by some on economic policies of long-serving president Robert Mugabe.
Mr Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party, in power since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain in 1980, was re-elected in an election in July that was rejected by his main rivals as rigged.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, an anti-poaching organisation, said the latest elephant deaths could have been avoided if Harare was tougher on those convicted of poaching.
“They need to be given some extensive jail time. If it was, they wouldn’t carry on doing it,” said the organisation’s chairman, Johnny Rodrigues.
H
e accused Zimbabwe of not doing enough to clamp down on poachers and of creating an impression that the country had more elephants than it can sustain.
“They want permission from CITES to sell the ivory they have in stock and they think they will get it if there are too many elephants here,” Mr Rodrigues said, referring to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
CITES, also known as the Washington Convention, aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants is kept to a minimum to avoiding threatening their existence.
