SURROUNDED by a wall of fire and angry Tanzanian villagers, the elephants were forced off a cliff some 50 metres high. When the dust settled, six of the herd lay dead. The now jubilant crowd took selfies among the carcasses (see a later photo of the scene). It was a violent climax to a long-simmering conflict, which saw farmers regularly lose harvests as protected elephants raided their crops. But on that summers evening in 2009, the inhabitants of West Kilimanjaro reached breaking point, says Sayuni Mariki at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Unfortunately, the incident is far from an isolated one. People regularly risk injury and prosecution to attack protected wildlife. Tigers and leopards have been beaten to death, wolves are illegally hunted and birds of prey fall victim to poison, to name just a few. On the surface the motives seem simple: protecting people and their property. Scratch a little deeper though, says Mariki, and it becomes clear that the animals are often just convenient scapegoats. The real hatred is reserved for conservationists and government officials.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 08:48:19 +0000
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