Over the years, Uganda’s extreme wildlife set back has majorly been poachers and traffickers who not only have been a threat to wild life numbers but also to law enforcers. Due to the fact that Uganda’s tourism industry is mainly nature-based, such groups of people have immensely crippled her wildlife growth and activities aimed at improving wildlife state.
Following this problem, the government came up with hefty laws and methods to cub down the highly fierce wildlife human ‘plague’-Poachers and Traffickers. All these efforts have positively transformed the wildlife stature in Uganda over time. For example, the number of elephants in Uganda had dropped from 60, 000 in the 1960s to 2,000 thirty years ago. Currently, Uganda is the only country in Africa with a steadily growing population of elephants boosting of more than 6,000 individuals.
The government has set up distinct wildlife homes away from the wild such as zoos and game reserves specifically targeting endangered wildlife species and animals captured out of their parent wild homes.
By 1896 Uganda had its last rhino poached for its horn and meat. However, the government has invested her resources to translocate and have rhino species in the country. For example, there have been introduction of rhinos at Ziwa ranch which are breeding better and at Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC) though these have botched to reproduce.
Recently, a group of government bodies came together to inaugurate the National Wildlife Crime Coordination Task Force (NWCCTF) on Tuesday this week while commemorating the World Wildlife Day. The wildlife conservation support groups comprised of Uganda Revenue Authority, the judiciary, customs, Civil Aviation Authority, and many others.
While addressing the newly formed team, the Minister of Tourism, Tom Butime urged these groups to popularize the Wildlife Act among the populace, compensate the communities whose gardens or livestock is destroyed by straying wildlife from the protected areas.
“The trick is for the law enforcers to be ahead of the criminals and be able to halt a crime before it is committed. That way our Big Cats will recover to satisfy our tourists.” stressed Butime.”
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