In October Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT) has conducted an elephant survey of the Selous Ecosystem with the help of local and international experts. The agencies involved included: Wildlife Division (WD), Tanzania Wildlife & Research Institute (TAWIRI), Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA), GIZ (German Development Cooperation), Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), Save the Elephants and the African Elephant Specialist Group of IUCN. This broad participation was meant to facilitate finance and logistics and to safeguard the strict application of objective scientific methods. The census was generally regarded as a critical step towards improving Tanzania’s resource protection and anti-poaching efforts countrywide and to gain a better understanding of the current threats to the country’s elephant populations. Official results are so far not yet available, however some politicians have leaked out a figure of 15000 elephants in the ecosystem. If this is correct, this would mean a reduction of elephants by more than three quarters in recent years. Whatever the data are correct (it is hoped that the official data will be published in the very near future), it will reveal a dramatic loss of elephants. The main poaching seems to have taken place during the last few years and not so much in recent times.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:41:40 +0000
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