Countries, international charities and wealthy individuals have donated millions of dollars worth of equipment to Tanzania's fight against poaching, including vehicles, small planes and drones.
These game scouts are posing with the ivory, gun, ammunition and scale that they confiscated from poachers they caught. Note the lean-to in the background; this is part of the game scouts' camp.
The grey piece is the skin of an elephant. The white chunk on the right is the skull. The other white pieces are elephant bone. This elephant carcass was picked over by vultures.
Game scouts often find elephant carcasses and bones, the leftovers from elephant poachers. The pieces are strewn about by the lions, leopards and hyenas that chew on them.
Game scouts burn the carcasses and bones simply to clean up the landscape.
Game scouts burn the elephant tail hair, since it is often woven into valuable bracelets. Game scouts do not want any body parts to end up in the illegal market.
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The Early Stages
Tanzania’s fight against poaching started slowly. A few years ago, Tanzania ran an anti-poaching campaign called Operation Tokomeza that was manned by anti-poachers, the police and the military, but ultimately managed by the military. It was closed down because the members were accused of beating, raping and killing (Cornell, “Crime”). The Tanzanian government also partnered with Veterans Empowered, a non-profit organization that was supposed to train anti-poachers. Tanzania eventually broke ties, especially after one of the trainers published on a website that he was in Tanzania to shoot poachers (Cornell, “Crime”). Although these ventures were unsuccessful, they are old news. As recently as 2014, people were still commenting that a lot of money and equipment had been donated to Tanzania’s anti-poaching efforts, but not much had happened. Part of that had to do with timing. Tanzania’s new government agency in charge of anti-poaching, and the new basket fund that was created to disperse donations to the anti-poachers, were not operational until 2015 – long after the worst poaching had happened. Despite the slow start, since mid-2015 much has changed, and poaching in Tanzania has slowed significantly. Adding Game Scouts In 2014 Tanzanian officials admitted there is a poaching problem, something they were avoiding because they did not want to lose photo tourists. Since then, Tanzania has significantly increased the number of government game scouts in the Selous. In addition to the games scouts riding on the safari hunters’ trucks, in 2012 there were four anti-poaching teams (36 men total) covering the Selous. That is the same as 36 cops patrolling all of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined with four vehicles. In 2014 there were eight anti-poaching teams (72 men total); and at the start of 2015 there were sixteen anti-poaching teams (144 men total). The biggest increase was at the end of 2015 when the government had three game posts in the Selous, each with about 90 game scouts, for a total of 270 men. According to a former professional hunter who is now helping the Tanzanian government organize the anti-poaching patrols in the Selous, since the extra men were added in 2015, “poaching is 10% of what it was before.” He credits the significant decline in poaching to having more men in the field and covering the hard-to-reach areas more completely. He also mentions the new fly-overs and the increased apprehensions in Dar and Zanzibar. Note that in his opinion, ending poaching has to do with actually catching trigger men and traffickers. Proof that Poaching is Decreasing A recent aerial survey showed there are many, many carcasses on the ground in Tanzania, however, only 1% were fresh kills (having flesh still attached). This suggests that the killing has greatly decreased since 2014 and 2015 ("Inside the Elite.") Other Recent Steps The Tanzanian government is now assigning game scouts to the buffer zones, or the areas that surround the protected parks and reserves. Next to increasing manpower, this has been the most important step so far; before, the poachers could kill elephants within yards of the game scouts and walk away, but now they cannot. The government has also suspended resident hunting, or hunting by people who live in Tanzania, which gives local men fewer excuses to be in the bush and makes it clear who is poaching. Finally, the government has begun “a comprehensive nationwide inspection of all licensed firearms in a quest to curb the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons,” which may or may not stop some poaching (Mwita). |
Next Steps
Although the boots-on-the-ground approach is working, the Tanzanian authorities could do better by offering the game scouts more and better training; increasing patrols in the buffer zones; increasing intelligence-gathering in the settlements near the elephant areas; drawing more game scouts from the nearby settlements to garner local support; and increasing manpower during the rainy season and during religious holidays when the safari hunters are not in the bush.
Tanzania’s officials could also be more vocal about their support for safari hunters, since the safari hunters keep the poachers out of the elephant areas; turn in the poachers’ GPS coordinates; house, transport and tip the game scouts; offer operational support to the anti-poaching teams; give bonuses to the anti-poachers when they catch poachers; and put much-needed money into the economy through their hunting endeavors.
Tanzanian officials could also be more transparent about where the money raised from safari hunting goes, especially about how much goes into protecting animals and how much goes to the communities close to the elephant areas. If the people in power were to steal less of the money the government makes off the hunting industry and share more of it with the communities, other world governments might support legal elephant hunting more, which could only help the anti-poaching efforts.
Some people say that Tanzania’s response is too little, too late. After all, the Selous has lost 75% of its elephant population in the last nine years. They also say that the main reason the poachers are not getting the last 13,000 elephants from the Selous is that the animals are spread out and harder to find. While there is some merit to these statements, it is important that Tanzania is able to protect its remaining elephants.
Although the boots-on-the-ground approach is working, the Tanzanian authorities could do better by offering the game scouts more and better training; increasing patrols in the buffer zones; increasing intelligence-gathering in the settlements near the elephant areas; drawing more game scouts from the nearby settlements to garner local support; and increasing manpower during the rainy season and during religious holidays when the safari hunters are not in the bush.
Tanzania’s officials could also be more vocal about their support for safari hunters, since the safari hunters keep the poachers out of the elephant areas; turn in the poachers’ GPS coordinates; house, transport and tip the game scouts; offer operational support to the anti-poaching teams; give bonuses to the anti-poachers when they catch poachers; and put much-needed money into the economy through their hunting endeavors.
Tanzanian officials could also be more transparent about where the money raised from safari hunting goes, especially about how much goes into protecting animals and how much goes to the communities close to the elephant areas. If the people in power were to steal less of the money the government makes off the hunting industry and share more of it with the communities, other world governments might support legal elephant hunting more, which could only help the anti-poaching efforts.
Some people say that Tanzania’s response is too little, too late. After all, the Selous has lost 75% of its elephant population in the last nine years. They also say that the main reason the poachers are not getting the last 13,000 elephants from the Selous is that the animals are spread out and harder to find. While there is some merit to these statements, it is important that Tanzania is able to protect its remaining elephants.