Ugandan wildlife threatened by foot and mouth disease

Jun 26, 2007, 17:58 GMT

Kampala, Uganda - Wild animals in Uganda's second largest game park are in danger of contracting foot and mouth disease as herdsmen with thousands of cattle are resisting their evacuation, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

The government has been trying to relocate over 10,000 Basongora pastoralists who are raising nearly 20,000 head of cattle in the vast, western Queen Elizabeth National Park but the plans are moving slowly, posing a danger to the park's wildlife.

'The existence of these animals in the park remains a danger as long as the foot and mouth disease has not been wiped out from the cattle,' Sam Mwandha, the operations director for the state-owned Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

He said the disease may be transmitted to animals in the park like rare antelopes, waterbucks and buffalo.

Most of the migrant herdsmen crossed from the north-east of neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo during that country's 1998- 2003 war and foot and mouth disease was discovered in their cattle last month.

The disease affects hoofed animals and while most adults can recover from the illness, it can be fatal on a large scale among young animals.

Over three weeks ago game rangers helped by the police and the military tried to move the herdsmen from the park but they refused and a number of people were injured.

Reports said the herdsmen were poisoning lions in the park to protect their herd.

The government has taken the exercise to a higher level and an inter-ministerial committee sat with environment experts on Monday to map out details of the relocation although results from the meeting were not made public.