ZIMBABWE – Zimbabwe is taking drastic measures in the face of the region’s devastating drought.
Authorities are being forced to sell some of the country’s wild animals in order to save them.
They are facing starvation and certain death.
Park officials are now appealing to the public with land and wildlife management skills to help.
“Parks are seized with a huge problem in terms of maintaining our wildlife stock which is under threat from different fronts. Wildlife threat, especially this year where we had a severe drought, we don’t have sufficient water in terms of looking after the wildlife we also don’t have sufficient grazing for the wildlife,” said tour operator, Emmanuel Fundira.
Zimbabwe’s 10 national parks are famous for their huge populations of the big five, but are over-crowded.
The parks already rely on donations for water, and volunteers help with patrols.
Selling the animals may ease financial pressure, but not all conservationist agree with the move.
“I can’t see many people in Zimbabwe who have got the money to actually pay for these animals, that is the first thing. Second thing is, they haven’t got title deeds or property rights, so I can’t see how they are going to sell to local people,” said conservationist, Johnny Rodriguez.
There are no details on what animals are available for sale nor the cost.
Meanwhile, more than 4-million Zimbabweans need aid as the drought devastating the crops they rely on for food and export earnings.
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