Kampala — EACH week, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has to rescue an elephant or lion from a wire snare.The snares, set up by poachers, are fixed on fences or trees to trap the animals.
According to Sam Mwandha, UWA's director of conservation, poaching is common in Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls national parks. "We have been called every week to remove snares from animals in the two parks," he said.
Mwandha said it is necessary to engage the communities more and provide incentives that are better than the proceeds from poaching. He also noted that the population of wild animals dropped in the 1970s and 1980s due to civil unrest and poaching.
Dr. William Olupot, a researcher at the Wildlife Conservation Society, a US -based NGO, said the high rate of poaching in national parks in central Uganda was leading to a decline in some species, which affected the tourism industry.
Apart from game meat consumed by hunters, Olupot named Kampala, Gulu, Masindi and Kasese as the main outlets for the bush meat trade. Olupot said wild animals around the Rwenzori had almost been wiped out.
He recommended more efforts in sustaining the wildlife population to boost the country's tourist potential.
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It is self evident that Uganda must adopt a system of game management along the lines of those countries such as Zambia, Botswana and Tanzania. These countries are doing an excellent job of protecting and nurturing their wildlife resources through a well regulated system of sport hunting. By enlisting the aid of the professional hunters as caretakers of their hunting concessions and by sharing the immense revenues with the local people and tribal/village entities these countries are protecting and nurturing their wildlife resources far beyond any of the non-hunting countries on the continent. The local people have a vested interest in healthy game populations and the protection of habitat. The monies generated from trophy and hunting fees and the cash from the improved employment opportunities flow into the local peoples hands, as well as the government agencies tasked with wildlife management. One only has to look to the example of Kenya's dramatic decline in wildlife and wild space as a result of 30+ years of an ill advised sport hunting ban. In the interim they have been far eclipsed by the aforementioned countries. Even those countries devastated by civil war, such as Mozambique, are enjoying a resurgence in their wildlife as a direct result of the protections offered by a well regulated sport hunting program. At the present rate of recovery it will again shortly be the Eden it once was.