Precious Manomano — A herd of 84 buffaloes were translocated yesterday by Government from Eaglemont Range to Nuanetsi Conservancy to contain the spread of foot and mouth disease and minimise the risk of human-wildlife conflict in the surrounding communities.
Buffalo are reservoirs or carriers of foot and mouth disease in Southern Africa, which can infect cattle if there is contact.
When there is no proper fencing, buffaloes stray and roam in surrounding communities, and can spread the disease to livestock.
Eaglemont Conservancy in Chiredzi District, Masvingo Province, is being targeted by the Department of Veterinary Services to ensure security of the wild animals.
The department's chief director, Dr Pias Makaya, said the translocation would minimise the risk of stray buffaloes and improve human safety in the communities.
"Around Eaglemont, there are about 10 000 families, so there is a high risk or danger of human-wildlife interface. So the owners of the conservancy, the department, National Parks and the owners of Nuanetsi Range came together on how we can actually alleviate this problem. We are here to make sure that we move the buffaloes to Nuanetsi."
Dr Makaya said the same strategy would be implemented in other conservancies.
"We will also be alleviating the conflict between human and wildlife interface. We are going to other conservancies to talk to them in the same manner we discussed with Eaglemond and Nuanetsi to find ways which will be a win-win situation, whereby the Government will be implementing its disease control strategy and at the same time the communities will be safeguarded," he said.
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Veterinary Services Department Masvingo provincial director, Dr Kramer Manyetu, said the buffaloes had been straying.
"These animals time and again stray out of the park because there is no electrified perimeter fence, so this translocation, to a larger extent, solves these problems that occur at the livestock-wildlife interface and we hope to extend this initiative to other properties that are holding wildlife so that we can be able to contain the foot and mouth disease.
"We want to make sure that it is confined to areas that are secure and properly fenced rather than waiting for outbreaks and trying to vaccinate, which has proved to be very costly to the country.
"This is the drive to sensitise the conservationists that if you have buffalo on your property, we require secure electrified fences as required by the laws of this country."
