2,617 suspected poachers arrested as six firms inject Sh4.5 billion in fight against poaching
What you need to know:
The suspects were arrested from game reserves, forest reserves and from Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) that directly benefit from the Friedkin Conservation Fund (FCF).
Arusha. A total of 2617 suspected poachers have been arrested during the period between 2013 and 2015, thanks to a decision by six companies to invest a total of Sh4.5 billion in wildlife conservation undertakings.
The suspects were arrested from game reserves, forest reserves and from Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) that directly benefit from the Friedkin Conservation Fund (FCF).
Some six companies have jointly injected a total of Sh4.5 billion into the FCF, the FCF project manager, Ms Nana Gross Woodley told The Citizen’s sister paper, Mwananchi on Monday, February 26.
She said the arrests were made possible due to the involvement of Tanzania Wildlife Authority (Tawa).
“They were arrested in six specific areas – measuring a total of 2.8 million acres – where the six companies operate their professional and tourism hunting as well conservation photography undertakings,” she said.
According to Ms Woodley, the FCF has been spending between Sh1.4 billion and Sh1.7 billion each year during the period between 2013, 2014 and 2015 on fostering the fight against poaching.
In cooperation with the Tawa and other government organs, the various initiatives undertaken during the past years managed to bring poaching cases down from 1226 in 2013 to 721 in 2015.
The Tawa director general, Mr James Wakibara, said recently that poaching cases have been going down during recent years.
