April
30 April - Last Bid to Relocate 700 Chitsa Families… The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has engaged the Masvingo political leadership in a last-ditch attempt to have the 700 Chitsa families relocated from Gonarezhou National Park. The authority wants the families moved out to pave way for the eventual creation of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park ahead of next year’s World Cup soccer finals to be hosted by South Africa. From: AllAfrica.com
29 April - Live wild animals at Parks stand… Harare — THE Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has for the first time brought live wild animals to their stand at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. Two lion cubs and two crocodiles are on display at the authority’s stand. In an interview, ZPWMA public relations manager Ms Caroline Washaya-Moyo said the four animals arrived on Monday at the ZITF from the Lion and Cheetah Park in Harare. From: Big Cat Rescue
28 April - Elephant exodus reported from troubled Zimbabwe… Growing pressure from poaching and human encroachment in Zimbabwe has driven hundreds of elephants to migrate from the country and at least one leopard to stalk an upmarket Harare suburb, conservationists said Monday. The independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force appealed in its latest monthly bulletin for more action and money, to preserve the troubled nation’s wildlife. From: The Times of India
28 April - Food Security and Wild Animal Protection: Zimbabwe Struggles to Find the Balance… You might think Zimbabwe had problems enough, with out of control inflation, an uneasy power-sharing government and a collapsed agricultural economy, but there is always room for things to get worse, or, more accurately, there’s plenty of room, but everybody and everything want to be in the same places. From: RedGreenandBlue.org
28 April - Elephants flee Zimbabwe as poaching increases… Zimbabwe’s endangered elephants have become the latest ‘refugees’ fleeing the country, moving in their hundreds across the border to the relative safety of Zimbabwe’s neighbours. From: SW Radio
27 April - Elephant exodus reported from troubled Zimbabwe… Growing pressure from poaching and human encroachment in Zimbabwe has driven hundreds of elephants to migrate from the country and at least one leopard to stalk an upmarket Harare suburb, conservationists said Monday. The independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force appealed in its latest monthly bulletin for more action — and money — to preserve the troubled nation’s wildlife. From: Townhall.com
26 April - Elephant Abuse… Research done many years ago proved that in 64% of cases of people convicted of animal abuse, the same people were/had been convicted of the abuse of people. Basil Steyn is obviously protected by ZANU PF. From: The Zimbabwean
25 April – Parks takes over abandoned lion-breeding project… The National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has moved in to secure a lion-breeding project in Masvingo that was abandoned by its owner three weeks ago, exposing the community around Lake Mutirikwi to attacks by the predatory felines. From: The Herald
22 April – Wild animals compete for scarce crops… Marauding wild animals in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North Province are adding anguish to the pain of hunger as they destroy scarce crops. Thin rainfall and a lack of agricultural inputs have brought poor harvests in recent years, leaving more than half the country’s 12 million people reliant on emergency food aid.From: IRIN Africa
18 April – Elephants terrorising new farmers… Elephants are wreaking havoc and threatening a good crop that new farmers got this year in some parts of the Midlands province, it has been learnt. New farmers from Ruby Block and Woodend Ranch told Sunday News this week how they had been spending sleepless nights in a bid to prevent the jumbos from destroying their crops. From: Sunday News
17 April - Inclusive Independence celebrations… All roads will lead to various centres in Manicaland tomorrow for the 29th Independence Day celebrations, with the main provincial event slated for Sakubva Stadium in Mutare. From: The Manica Post
16 April - Experts Say Zimbabwe Rhino in ‘State of Crisis’… Leading rhino conservation experts, the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and Save the Rhino, today called the rhino poaching situation in Zimbabwe “an immediate crisis with long-term consequences” and called for concerted action by the Zimbabwe government and international agencies to tackle endangered species poaching and illegal trade in wildlife products. The groups said continued inaction undermines the country’s economic recovery because rhino poaching threatens one of the key economic pillars for Zimbabwe – ecotourism. From: PR Newswire
16 April - 700 cheat death as Zimbabwe train kills 3 jumbos… More than 700 passengers miraculously escaped unhurt when a Bulawayo-bound train from Victoria Falls knocked down and killed three elephants on Sunday morning. Grateful passengers hailed the train driver as a hero after he calmly steered the locomotive, averting disaster during the long Easter holiday that was characterised by a high death toll on the country’s roads. The accident happened in the Bongoro area between Dete and Hwange’s Thompson Junction. From: the ZimDiaspora
15 April - Wildlife experts attend confab… Birdlife and Wildlife experts from 15 African countries have ended a three-day workshop at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region, that discussed means of mainstreaming environmental conservation in educational systems on the continent. From: The Ghanian Times
15 April - Wildlife in Zimbabwe’s Parks Targeted by the Hungry Millions… Zimbabwe has been affected by a number of very difficult problems over the years, which seem to have increased in intensity recently. Faced with a cholera outbreak and a rate of unemployment of more than 90 percent, the starving population of the African country is now turning its attention to the nation’s famous game parks. Elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes and other creatures are being hunted by people just to have something to eat, or to make some money out of. Wardens in the parks say that there is little they can do, on account of the fact that poachers number in the millions. From: Softpedia
15 April - Massacre of the innocents: How starving families slaughter Zimbabwe’s wild animals just to put food in their mouths… The skin of a giraffe lies discarded like an old coat on the ground. Alongside it lie a few bones. Isaac, a game warden of some 30 years’ experience, points at the remains of the once elegant animal. ‘This is what we are up against,’ he tells me. ‘How can we protect the animals when people are so hungry?’ From: Mail Online
14 April - R770 000 in fines for illegal wildlife trade… CapeNature officials have secured fines totalling nearly R770 000 in three separate convictions of illegal trade in wildlife, the second biggest illegal trade worldwide after drugs, says a Cape Times report. From: Legalbrief Today
14 April - NPWA animal stastics disputed… Wildlife operators have accused the National Parks and Wildlife Authority (NPWA) of glaring inaccuracies in its animal census and are contemplating bringing in private wildlife animal demographers to verify the statistics of NPWA, Sunday News can reveal. From: Sunday News
6 April - Hunting elephants in Zimbabwe’s National Parks… An April 2009 report has just been released by the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force and this month they highlight hunting being carried out in Zimbabwe’s National Parks by an American company called ‘Cape To Cairo Safari’. From: Sokwanele
2 April – Lions Terrorise Villagers… A pride of lions believed to have strayed from the Kruger National Park in South Africa are on the prowl in Beitbridge east where they are terrorising villagers and killing livestock. Most villagers from areas around Chituripasi and Chikwalakwala are appealing to authorities to deal with the lions. From: AllAfrica.com
