GOVERNMENT is disturbed by moves by the United States to
frustrate wildlife trophy hunting in Zimbabwe and is engaging Washington over
the matter, a senior official said yesterday.
The United States is in the process of promulgating an
anti-trophy hunting law called ‘Cecil Act’ purportedly inspired by the killing
of Cecil the lion at Hwange National Park by an American millionaire dentist,
Walter Palmer, in 2015.
The killing of the globally famous lion sparked worldwide
outrage. The Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Mr Munesu
Munodawafa, revealed Government’s frustrations at Matopo National Park during
the launch of the country’s Rapid Response Guide (RRG) toolkit on wildlife
crimes yesterday.
A local non-governmental organisation that advocates for
protection of animals, Speak for Animals, spearheaded the formulation of the
toolkit with the involvement of stakeholders in various Government departments.
Mr Munodawafa said the US congress recently invited
Government to make its presentation on the proposed law and Harare is still
negotiating with Washington to understand its implications.
“The background of the law is that there was a lion called
Cecil which was shot in Hwange National Park under circumstances that are well
documented. Now what has since happened is that the American government is
coming up with what they call the Cecil Act. The long and short of what is
happening is that they are saying we need to protect certain species and for
that to happen the effect of the law will be to prohibit the movement of
trophies to America whether by airplanes going to America or even to prohibit
the American hunters from coming here. That would be the effect of that law,”
he said.
Mr Munodawafa said Zimbabwe’s tourism industry thrives on
wildlife conservancy and the proposed law would negatively affect conservation
efforts.
He said the country benefits from controlled trophy hunts
as revenues generated are used for anti-poaching mechanisms.
Mr Munodawafa said if the Cecil Act sails through, the
country would regress on progress it has made in fighting wildlife crimes as
Government cannot fund conservation efforts from its coffers.
“On average the operational budget, just the operational
budget for national parks, is plus or minus US$30 million and that money has
been coming in from various activities like sport hunting. That is why we even
fight the issue of the ban on ivory trade. If you look at it, ivory has been
banned, trading in live elephants has effectively been banned, now they are
moving to cut off trophies for buffaloes, for lions, for anything they are
closing all the sources of revenue,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, acting deputy Prosecutor
General Mr Innocent Mutsonziwa said it was curious that the Cecil law is being
crafted after an American sparked global outrage by killing the famous lion.
“The law which is being crafted to deprive Zimbabwe and
other African countries of benefiting from their wildlife is coming from the
same country where that person (who killed Cecil) came from. So, as a thinker
you must think big and say what was the plan. Was it just a coincidence or it
was a well-planned thing that we do this and after so many years then we tie
this country down so that it doesn’t develop? It can’t use its resources. These
are things that those with huge imaginations should think about,” said Mr
Mutsonziwa.
President Mnangagwa recently revealed that the country is
considering pulling out of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as it prevents Zimbabwe from benefiting
from ivory stocks worth US$600 million. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment