Conservationists appeal for end to poisoning of wildlife in Uganda

By Henry Wasswa Jul 31, 2007, 14:55 GMT

Kampala - Conservationists in Uganda have appealed to the government to intervene to prevent further killing of animals by herdsmen living in the country's second-largest game park.

The Basongora cattlemen, who have been occupying parts of the Queen Elizabeth National Park since early this decade, are believed to have poisoned 80 per cent of hyenas in the area and at least 15 lions.

An unknown number of leopards have also reportedly been poisoned in the last few months by the nomads who want to protect themselves and their animals.

Ugandan veterinarians told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that they cannot prevent the killing of the carnivores because the matter involved security rather than disease.

Ecologists, meanwhile, said a government bid to remove the herdsmen who are illegally occupying 300 square kilometres of the 2,000-square-kilometre park has been too slow.

The situation was being worsened by the herdsmen who are not only adamant they won't leave, but have been ferrying in hundreds of other nomads to occupy other parts of the park.

'The process of removing these people is too slow. There is nothing on the ground. In the last few months, nine lions were killed in one group and six in another group. Their numbers have been greatly reduced, the operations director for the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Sam Mwandha told dpa.

'As for the hyenas, 80 per cent of the population in that area occupied by the Basongora have been poisoned,' he added.

'The population of the hyenas in that area was 54 but 43 of them are believed to have been killed. The lions don't finish the poisoned carcasses which are eaten by hyenas that also die later,' Mwandha told dpa.

The Basongora, who had earlier been evicted from Virunga National Park across the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, have demanded a new district to settle once they leave the Queen Elizabeth National Park.

In June, the Ugandan government set up a committee to work on their relocation.

The Queen Elizabeth park, home to salty lakes, geysers and crater lakes, is a key destination in Uganda for tens of thousands of tourists who go there to see big game, including elephants, hippos, buffaloes, water bucks and the big cats such as lions.

Efforts to get government officials for comment on Tuesday were futile as telephone calls went unanswered.

The commissioner for livestock health and entomology in the Ministry for Agriculture, Animal industry and Fisheries, Nicholas Kauta, however, told dpa the particular problem 'requires security and we veterinarians cannot do much about it.

'There is need to prevent these deliberate poisoning acts,' he added.