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Malawi: Zambian Nationals Arrested for Encroaching Kasungu National Park

11/26/2013

Source: AllAfrica.com

By Davie Munkhondya

Kasungu Police is keeping in custody 28 Zambian nationals of age range between 17 to 54 for illegally settling into Kasungu National Park, contrary to the Parks and Wildlife Acts Section(s) 32, 33, 35 and 36 of the Republic of Malawi.

The illegal settlers were spotted by the parks and wildlife officers for Kasungu National Park on
24th November, 2013 while on patrol to the western border of Zambia and Kasungu National Park.

According to Kasungu Police Spokesperson, Edwin Kaunda, when parks officials reached Mtenthe area they discovered that a group of people have settled in the park and were busy cutting down trees with the aim of picking the caterpillars (Matondo).

The illegal settlers were arrested on Monday, November 25.

"These people were arrested on Monday, 25th November, 2013. When interviewed they told the parks officers that they are Zambians from Traditional Authority (TA) Chanje in Chipata and had been there for some time," explained Kaunda.

The 28 Zambian Nationals will appear in court soon to answer different charges ranging from residing in the protected area without permit contrary to Section 32 of the Parks and Wildlife Act, cultivating in the protected area without permit contrary to Section 35and Illegal entry into the protected area contrary to Section 32(1).

Furthermore, they are also expected to answer charges of illegal conveyance of weapons contrary to Section 33 and Illegal taking and destruction of trees in the protected area contrary to Section 35(b) of Parks and Wildlife Act.

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Africa Changes Tack in Fight Against Poachers

8/10/2012

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Source: Africareview.com

By Janet Otieno

Alarmed by the surging demand from Asian markets for rhino and elephant horns and tusks, most African countries are working out a formula to curb the trade that drives poaching.

Countries like Kenya have placed sniffer dogs in most ports of entry, and game rangers have also been deployed into ‘danger zones’.
But even as they do this, poachers are devising new methods to beat the conservationists at their own game.

The trade does not endanger rhinos and elephants alone.

Malagasy tortoises have also enjoyed a ‘safe flight’ before landing into cooking pots in some Asian restaurants and slaughter houses where their body parts are believed to have medicinal qualities.

In 2010, about 415 endangered Madagascar tortoises that had been trafficked to Malaysia were flown back to the country’s capital Antananarivo.

They are now safe in the Mangily breeding centre in the country. Customs authorities at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia seized the ‘tortoise cargo’ from an Air Mauritius flight.

Reports have it that in 1950, the African elephant population numbered five million; by the 1989 their numbers had steadily dipped due to poaching, leaving fewer than 450,000 in the continent.

Elephants and rhinos are now being pushed to extinction.

Reacting to this alarming trend, conservationist bodies like Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) placed the African Elephant at Appendix 1, as a most endangered species in 1989, and as a result in 1990 slapped a global ban on the international trade in ivory.

However, even with the ban, illegal trade in ivory has soared and to prove that it may get worse, on May 15 the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) confirmed the seizure of three containers with ivory, which was being shipped from the Mombasa port to Sri Lanka. More....

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Malawi: Zambian Nationals Arrested for Encroaching Kasungu National Park

Africa Changes Tack in Fight Against Poachers

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