Hwange National Parks and Wildlife department spokesperson Tinashe Farawo says there is a need for his organisation and community members in Hwange to find each other on the problems of human-animal wildlife conflict so that a lasting solution to the crisis can be found.
He was speaking in an exclusive interview with The Weekly after complaints by Hwange residents that the department was failing to make rapid responses each time they were called to deal with marauding wild animals in communities.
“The department may have genuine resource constraints due to limited funds from the central government, but solutions must be found to deal with human-wildlife conflict. One such solution is the use of liaison committees we created in Hwange to share information with us. These committees are led by councillors.”
“Our mandate is to respond to calls and so we keep encouraging members of the community in Hwange to use our toll-free numbers to contact us. We will ensure our officials continue to be alert to such calls,” he said.
Farawo said the community also has a role to play in the fight against human-wildlife conflict.
“We encourage the community members to ensure that their cattle do not stray into the national park. Each time they do so, they attract lions which follow them back into the communities. So at night livestock must be controlled so that they don’t enter the national park,” he said.
Farawo revealed that after tip-offs, his department spent one month at Cross Mabale tracking down lions which had been spotted in communities there. He explained that such an operation was evidence of how his department responds to calls from communities.
According to government spokesperson Nick Mangwana, 60 people were killed during human-animal conflict in recent months while 57 were injured which makes the crisis serious in Zimbabwe.