Call to review human wildlife laws

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO

Residents of Victoria Falls are pushing for a review of the human-wildlife conflict laws as they currently protect animals at the expense of people.

The call comes after the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority rangers last month killed an elephant that had been terrorising and destroying gardens in ward 11.

Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association chairperson Kelvin Moyo said the laws should be aligned with the human and wildlife conflicts in communities.

“Laws are no longer favourable in what we can do in order to protect the residents or the citizens,” Moyo said.

“I appreciate the issue that animals in Victoria falls as a destination are part of a pillar that attracts tourism and it means business to us but at the end of the day we are saying we should have laws aligned with the current situation so that we have it easy to deal with these animals if they are to be killed.”

Moyo said the human and wildlife conflicts started to increase in 2016 and it was time that “communities, the government, parliament and all other key stakeholders begin to address the issues to do with human-wildlife conflict”.

The impact of climate change has resulted in significant decreases in crop yields and available grazing areas for livestock due to decreasing rainfall. As a result, competition between game and livestock has increased.

Moyo said crocodiles and elephants are the leading wildlife in conflicts with humans.

“And surprisingly hippos are close by on number three and there is buffalo on number four. For hippos and crocodiles, we know that it’s an issue of water scarcity and elephants together with buffalos it’s usually an issue of crops and agricultural activities, “he said.

Human-wildlife conflict in Zimbabwe, however, is largely attributed to a growing human population that has led to diminishing natural habitat for wildlife.