ZimConservation

HARARE – A group of Zimbabwean fishermen have written to President Robert Mugabe to intervene to stop soldiers from beating them and stealing their fish, in a bizarre case that highlights how members of security forces have become rogues that regularly terrorise civilians. In a letter to Mugabe, who is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, the fishermen based at Darwendale Dam, 60 kilometres south-west of Harare, said they appealed to the President after the latest attack last Thursday, when soldiers raided a fishing cooperative, beat up fishermen, stole their property and burnt their fishing nets. Read more: http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=6223

The Greater Mapungubwe (formerly Limpopo-Shashe) Transfrontier Conservation Area is a vast and hauntingly beautiful site containing evidence of an ancient African civilisation, dinosaur remains and Stone Age and Iron Age archaeological sites. Home to the largest elephant population on privately owned land in Africa, the Greater Mapungubwe TFCA is situated at the convergence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers and borders Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Read more: http://www.tradeinvestafrica.com/investment_opportunities/220972.htm

The deal to export wildlife to North Korea has been called off in a move described as good news for Zimbabwe by wild life conservationists. Efforts are now underway to urgently raise 18 000 Pounds for funding the immediate release of most of the wild-caught animals and the care for the two young elephants. “Although the cancellation of this deal was in no way dependent upon us raising funds for the fire-breaks, we have also indicated our willingness, subject to the statement of reassurance mentioned above, to support National Parks on this specific issue – as many thousands of wild animals could be affected by devastating fires in Hwange if these fire-breaks are not maintained,” said a spokesperson for Tikki Hywood Trust. Read more: http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32538:good-news-for-zimbabwes-wildlife&catid=32&Itemid=34

Pretoria – Hunting rifles stolen in South Africa are being fitted with silencers and allegedly smuggled into Zimbabwe by a Musina hunter to be used in poaching rhino. A Beeld investigation reveals that ruthless South African hunters and safari-operators are plundering Zimbabwe’s wildlife stocks and making a killing from illegal hunting and the trade in rhino horn. Read more: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Musina-Mafia-arming-poachers-20100708

GOVERNMENT has aborted a wildlife trade deal with the secretive Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) amid widespread condemnation from pressure groups, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt. Sources close to the development said the planned shipment of US$23 000 worth of wildlife to the DPRK in a deal conservationists termed President Robert Mugabe’s “Noah’s Ark”. It has been blocked after local and international natural resources campaigners criticised the destined living conditions of the animals at Pyongyang Zoo. Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006180808.html

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The state wildlife authority says poachers killed 10 elephants in a single attack in southeastern Zimbabwe. All the tusks were removed, leaving the carcasses on a river bank. Caroline Washaya-Moyo, an official of the wildlife department, says heavy caliber cartridge cases were found at the remote scene in the Gonarezhou national park on Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique. Investigators reported the animals were shot and the ivory was removed in what appeared to be a “quick and professional” onslaught in a single day last week. Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5igdv-WMzwr-A-sGzIFQf-Six8pSAD9G8CMT00

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Starvation Island in northern Zimbabwe is living up to its name for the first time in 50 years as rising lake waters have submerged grazing land for hundreds of animals, conservationists say. Rescuers here are holding exhausted impalas by their horns just to keep their heads above water after the hungry, exhausted animals desperately tried to escape the flooded island. Starvation Island was once a staging post for rescued animals, named after many perished from hunger there during the building of the massive Kariba hydroelectric dam. Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gLSXss_4LW15GwXoFpuiy2NNT-uwD9G37S280

Pretoria – A South African woman who worked at Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage in Zimbabwe was killed when she was attacked by an adult lion on Tuesday morning. Robyn Lotz, 26, from Pretoria, whose life’s mission was caring for and rehabilitating neglected and injured wild animals, was attacked after a worker presumably didn’t close the gate to the lion’s cage properly. Read more: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Lion-kills-SA-woman-in-Zim-20100602

HARARE – About 400 kilogrammes of ivory and rhino horn have been seized from poachers in six southern African countries – including Zimbabwe – under a transboundary operation coordinated by the international police organisation (Interpol), the body announced last week. The France-based organisation said a transnational operation targeting wildlife crime across southern Africa resulted in the location and closure of an illegal ivory factory, the seizure of elephant tasks and rhino horn with a market value of more than US$1million as well as the arrest of 41 people. Read more: http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31166:police-bust-poaching-syndicate-&catid=70:sunday-issue

The Sunday Times reported last week that President Robert Mugabe had ordered that Wildlife Department officials capture pairs of giraffe, zebra, antelope, hyena, monkeys and birds. Two 18-month-old elephants are already being held in quarantine within the game park. Zimbabwean authorities defended the action and said that veterinary experts sent to North Korea were satisfied that it was suitably equipped to house and care for the animals. Read more: http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article464265.ece/Zimbabwe-wildlife-gift-is-doomed

May 20 (Bloomberg) — Zimbabwe plans to sell animals including elephants, jackals and wild cats to a zoo in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, according to Vitalis Chadenga, director of the African nation’s parks authority. The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority is also studying applications from Japan, Mozambique and three other unidentified nations to buy species, Chadenga said by phone today from the capital, Harare. Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-20/zimbabwe-plans-to-sell-elephants-jackals-cats-to-north-korea.html

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said at the weekend export of six animal species to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was a “purely business” transaction, dismissing reports of a decree from President Robert Mugabe to capture the animals and export them to the Asian country as a gift. Media reports last week quoted animal rights groups as saying two baby elephants intended as a gift to the DPRK or North Korea – a long-time ally of Mugabe – were unlikely to survive the journey by air. But Parks director general Vitalis Chadenga at the weekend said the deal was a “purely business” transaction involving elephants, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, spotted hyenas and rock dursy. Read more: http://www.zimbabwesituation.org/?p=13646

ZIMBABWE’s National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said Thursday North Korea has made an application to import elephants and five other animal species, but denied the existence of a presidential decree to send the animals to the Asian nation. In a statement, parks director general Vitalis Chadenga said the impending export of the animals is a business arrangement that comes after the authority was satisfied with conditions in the receiving country. Chadenga said: “For purposes of clarity, I considered it prudent to set the record straight: Zimbabwe is currently processing an application for DPRK for the following animal species: elephants, giraffes, Zebras, warthog, spotted hyenas and rock dursy. Read more: http://www.zimbabwesituation.org/?p=13454

With famine, starvation, and political violence now commonplace, the reign of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe has certainly been tragic for his country’s citizens. For Zimbabwe’s endangered wildlife, things are quite dire as well. The general lawlessness that plagues the African nation, combined with Mugabe’s destructive policies, have resulted in the rapid destruction of large numbers of wildlife. According to the Irish Times, “Statistics provided by conservationists from the southern African country reveal that last year alone the country lost about 300 rhinos, 20,000 zebras and over 6,000 elephants to poachers operating in national parks, conservancies and game farms … Conservative estimates by conservationists put the total loss of wildlife to poaching over the past 10 years at more than half a million animals.” Read more: http://animals.change.org/blog/view/mugabe_bad_for_people_bad_for_wildlife

ZIMBABWE’S ONCE thriving wildlife is being wiped out by crime syndicates and poor rural communities taking advantage of the breakdown of law and order, local conservationists have said. Statistics provided by conservationists from the southern African country reveal that last year alone the country lost about 300 rhinos, 20,000 zebras and over 6,000 elephants to poachers operating in national parks, conservancies and game farms. Conservative estimates by conservationists put the total loss of wildlife to poaching over the past 10 years at more than half a million animals. Read more: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0515/1224270464597.html

There has been shocked reaction to a presidential decree handed down by Robert Mugabe, that two of every animal species in the Hwange National Park should be sent to North Korea. The animals include two eighteen month old elephant calves, that Mugabe is giving as a ‘gift’ to his Korean counterpart. Zimbabwean conservationists have warned that the babies will not survive that trip to Korea, with elephant experts stating that elephants so young cannot survive without their family group. Read more: http://www.swradioafrica.com/news130510a/ark130510.htm
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Dumbo drop: Zimbabwe to give NKorea baby elephants
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwean conservationists say two baby elephants intended as a gift to North Korea are unlikely to survive the journey by air. The independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said Thursday the 18-month-old elephants were being held in pens in the western Hwange National Park, along with pairs of most of the park’s other animal species bound for North Korea. The country is a longtime ally of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051301296.html
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Conservationists protest as Robert Mugabe sends ‘ark’ of animals to North Korea
Two by two, they were caught and lined up as an extravagant gift from one despotic regime to another. According to conservationists, the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, will send a modern-day ark – containing pairs of giraffes, zebras, baby elephants and other wild animals taken from a national park – to a zoo in North Korea. The experts warned that not every creature would survive the journey to be greeted by Mugabe’s ally Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader. Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/13/robert-mugabe-animals-north-korea
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Zimbabwe to give North Korea two baby elephants
The 18-month-old elephants have been captured from the wild and are intended as a present for North Korean President Kim Jong Il from his long-time ally, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said the elephants were being held in pens in the western Hwange National Park, along with pairs of zebras, giraffes and several species of antelopes bound for North Korea. Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/7720121/Zimbabwe-to-give-North-Korea-two-baby-elephants.html

A Mozambican man was last Monday arrested in Chiredzi after a shootout with soldiers, police detectives, and National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority officials. Sergio Antonio Sithole and Isaac Matava were allegedly caught offloading 30 bales of second-hand clothes in a bushy area in the Mbokeni area of Dumisa, before the shootout. It is believed the clothing had been smuggled into Zimbabwe from Mozambique. However, officers carrying out a joint operation to weed out criminal activities reportedly cornered them. Read more: http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=18705&cat=1

FOR Mr Lyson Ndlovu of Gomoza Village near Lupane, the sound of a roaring lion reminds him of his poverty. He lost two beasts recently — his only inherited wealth — to the predators. “The lions are unfair. It’s as if they only target poor people,” he said. “My two cows both in calf were killed by these cats, now I am worse off. I depend on my neighbours for milk.”
Pointing at his sandals fashioned out of a tyre, he added: “I cannot afford the cheapest shoes.” Mr Ndlovu and other villagers have formed a vigilante group that monitors the movements of the lions in their area in order to protect their beasts. They brave possible attacks by the predators and the chilly weather in the forests with knobkerries, spears and dogs as their only weapons. Read more: http://www.chronicle.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=8427&cat=10

Cape Town – Beit Bridge baboons are making monkeys out of the nature conservation officials sent to prevent them stealing from people at the Limpopo border post, says Independent Democrats MP Joe McGluwa. “I heard that the baboons recently broke in and stole from the tents of the nature conservation staff that had been deployed there to deal with them,” he said on Thursday. McGluwa said a troop of about 200 baboons was responsible for “stealing from and terrorising pedestrians, motorists, truckers and customs officials” at the post, the main South Africa-Zimbabwe border crossing point. Read more: http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Baboons-outwit-border-staff-20100506

Harare — THE National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has appointed Mr Vitalis Chadenga as its new director general. Parks board chairman Mr George Pangeti on Tuesday said Mr Chadenga is replacing Dr Morris Mutsambiwa whose term expired in March. “The board of Parks and Wildlife Management Authority notifies the appointment of Mr Vitalis Chadenga to the post of director general with effect from May 1, 2010. Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201005060048.html