RESOURCE constraints are hampering the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) efforts to reduce human-wildlife conflict, the authority has revealed.
ZimParks has inadequate vehicles and low ranger numbers to deal with stray wildlife that ends up encroaching onto human settlements damaging infrastructure, killing people and domestic animals.
The authority’s director-general Fulton Mangwanya, revealed the challenges during an indaba on Human Wildlife Conflict Relief Fund that was held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair’s agricultural pavillion last week.
He said ZimParks was like any other tourist company that is required to pay duty for equipment that it receives as donations or vehicles that it buy.
“That is actually the reason why we are failing to react in time in some cases because we do not have adequate resources.
“Our main problem is that we are looking at human-wildlife conflict and we say let us deal with it, let us get money, that is not the solution,” he said.
Mangwanya had earlier on indicated that 300 people were killed by wild animals from 2019 to date.
“We are talking of 300 people who were killed from 2019 and we would not actually reach that number even if we had a problem of climate change.
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“The ZimParks need to be well equipped. If ZimParks was equipped it would be having vehicles for rapid reaction to reports, we would be having drones, would be having helicopters.
“It will be very easy to deal with the problem because these people sight problem animals before they kill people and they can spend the whole day and second day, then we react when someone has been killed.”
Mangwanya also said ZimParks was being affected by a critical shortage of manpower.
“We have a shortage of rangers who can be patrolling the areas 24/7 but we cannot recruit. We do not have the resources. Most of our money goes towards paying duty.
“We are paying duty on vehicles and that is why we are saying to the ministry please, help us now because it is proving to be very difficult.
“The worst provinces that are decimated by animals are the provinces that do not have good roads. You talk of Plumtree to Mabhongwane Dam there, Mzingwane, Nkayi and Tsholotsho.
“The road from Lupane to Kwekwe is bad and these people how can they say we are working together? Wherever we are doing wildlife conservation, we should be doing it with the people or for the people by the people, but in this case there is nothing.”
He said if ZimParks was reacting promptly to reports of wildlife in communities, people would have trust in the authority.
“But we need resources to do that and at the same time we feel we have an elephant management policy.
“If you go through that, it was approved, it allows us to manage problem animals, manage animals when they are increasing numbers like the way it is right now,” he said.
Mangwanya also revealed that the resource constraints were affecting the authority’s efforts to hold campaigns on issues of human and wildlife conflict.
