Zimbabwe squatters slaughter wildlife
Date: 13 July 2000
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Author: David Blair
Swarming with flies, the rotting carcass was barely recognisable as an elephant. For Roger Whittall, it was more grim evidence of the wave of poaching that has engulfed his ranch since hundreds of squatters invaded the Save Valley Conservancy in south-eastern Zimbabwe.
Black rhinos and wild dogs, two of Africa's most endangered species, are threatened by the occupiers who have imposed "no-go areas", assaulted dozens of game scouts and laid thousands of wire snares. Save was singled out for occupation because 21 white farmers, who merged their land to form the world's largest private game reserve in 1990, own its 2,200 square miles of rugged bush and scrub.
Mr Whittall, whose Humani ranch forms part of Save, is appalled by the carnage. Near the dead elephant, groves of acacia and mopane trees that once teemed with antelope are now devoid of game. "This is nothing to do with land, it's a mass slaughter and it goes on every minute of every day," he said.
On Humani ranch alone, covering barely 10 per cent of Save, squatters have snared 2,000 impalas, 365 other antelopes, 20 zebras, two cheetahs, two elephants and one wild dog since April
Mr Whittall said: "The animals die in absolute agony. You can slaughter unbelievable amounts of game with these things." More than 1,600 snares have been removed on his ranch. During a five-hour sweep through an area occupied by squatters, game scouts from the neighbouring Senuko lodge found a further 1,500, many of them with trapped victims.
The squatters turned to poaching initially to feed themselves as growing crops is impossible in Save's rugged bush country. But evidence has emerged that meat is being sold and commercial poaching has begun. The tusks on the dead elephant had been removed and scouts fear that the next step will be the targeting of rhinos for their horns.
Scouts Edward Mashamba and Webster Bhangeni ventured into the no-go region last month and paid a heavy price. A gang of 100 squatters captured them and beat them with sticks and clubs.
Mr Bhangeni said: "They shouted, 'You are a traitor, you are working for the whites. We don't want to see the whites in Zimbabwe.' Then they beat us everywhere, just everywhere. On the back, the feet, the buttocks."
Because President Robert Mugabe has repeatedly backed the squatters, police are reluctant to act and the atmosphere of lawlessness encourages anyone to kill animals on occupied white land with impunity. In Save, scouts can no longer carry rifles for fear of provoking the squatters. If they arrest a poacher, even outside the "liberated areas", his comrades will demand his release with threats of violence.
Mr Bhangeni said: "If we try to arrest poachers, they will kill us. There is nothing we can do. But we must try to carry on. It hurts me to see all these animals dying, it's terrible."