Zimbabwe is full of elephants and conflict with villagers is growing. A new approach hopes to help
HWANGE, Zimbabwe (AP)-When GPS alerts follow a flock of an elephant heading towards villages near the Hwnge National Park in Zimbabwe, Capon Sibanda Spring. He publishes warnings in WhatsApp groups before speeding up his bike to inform the residents close without phones or access to the network.
The new elephant tracking system that wears GPS last year was launched by the Parks Parks Authority, Zimbabwe and the International Fund for animal well -being. It aims to prevent dangerous confrontations between people and elephants, which are More frequent with climate change in exacerbation of competition For food and water.
“When we started, it was more challenging, but it became enormous,” said Sibanda, 29, a local volunteer who trained to be parents in society.
For generations, the villagers tried the utensils, cried or burned the dung to drive elephants. However, the exacerbation of drought and shrinking resources led the animals to raid the villages often, destroying crops and infrastructure and sometimes injury or killing people.
The number of elephants in Zimbabwe is estimated at about 100,000, which is nearly twice the capacity of the Earth. The country has not been executed in approximately four decades. This is because of the pressure from activists to maintain wildlife, and because the process is expensive, according to Parks Tinashe Farawo spokesman.
Conflicts between humans and wildlife, such as elephants, black and brown, were killed 18 people across the country of South Africa between January and April this year, forcing the garden authorities to kill 158 “problem” animals during that period.
“It gets more drought. The elephants devour the little we are harvesting,” said Sinzini Sebanda, a local adviser and farmer, who is tilted with dung fertilizer in a community garden that also supports the school feeding program.
Technology now supports traditional tactics. Through the Earthranger platform presented by IFAW, the authorities follow renewable elephants in the actual time. The maps are close to the buffer area – which were identified on digital maps, and not from the walls – that separate the garden and fishing from the community.
At Park Restaurant, one day, watch the Arnold Tshipa, IFAW field operations manager, transportation icons on the laptop while waiting for breakfast. When via a red line icon, which indicates a breach, alert.
“We will be able to see the interactions between wildlife and people,” said Tsissia. “This allows us to give more resources to certain areas.”
The system also records accidents such as crop damage or attacks on people and livestock by predators such as lions or hyenas and retaliatory attacks on wildlife by humans. It also follows the site of the community of community matters such as Cabon Sebanda.
Sibanda said: “Every time I wake up, I take my bike, take my tools and hit the road.” He collects and stores data on his phone, usually with pictures. “Inside Walsh,” he said, the alerts go to Rangers and the villagers.
His commitment has gained admiration from the local population, who sometimes destroyed crops or meat. It also receives the allocation of the monthly food of about $ 80 with internet data.
“The decisions to preserve the knowledge of strong scientific data.”
Villagers like Seenzen Sibanda say the system makes a difference: “We are still hitting the pans, but now we get a timely warning and Rangers interact more quickly.”
Still, frustration remains. Sebanda lost crops and water infrastructure in front of elephants and wants stronger work. “Why don’t you execute them until we benefit?” I asked. “We have a lot of elephants anyway.”
Its community, in home to several hundred people, receives only a small share of the annual cup hunting revenues, almost the value of one elephant or between 10,000 dollars and 80,000 dollars, which is heading towards repairing water or fencing. She wants to rise in the hunting share in Zimbabwe, which is 500 elephants per year, and increased her community.
Elephant discussion made headlines. In September last year, activists protested after Zimbabwe and Namibia proposal The slaughter of elephants to feed the dehydrated societies. The President of Botswana at the time offered that the gift of 20 thousand elephants to Germany, and the country’s wildlife minister who was sending 10,000 to Hyde Park in the heart of London so that the British could “taste the living alongside elephants”.
Zimbabwe’s collision project may provide the road forward. Sixteen villas, most of whom are mothers, are equipped with GPS hoops, allowing guards to track entire herds by following their leaders. But HWANGE holds about 45,000 villas, and park officials say it has the capacity of 15,000. Project officials admit that a huge gap remains.
On a modern collision mission, a team of environmental scientists, veterinarians, tracking, and burger identified a herd. Marksman cleared the matrix from a distance. After some tracking using a drone and a truck, the team members installed the collars, which lasts two and four years. Some blood samples were collected. Rangers with guns continued monitoring.
Once the white collars were secured, an antidote was given, the mothers were overlooked in the wilderness, and its ears were raised.
“Every second is concerned,” said Kodzai Maporisa, a veterinarian at the garden agency.
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