ZAWA told to set up wildlife nurseries
By MAILESI BANDA THE Zambia Wildlife Authority has been challenged to create nurseries for wildlife to preserve animals in the Kafue National Park.
A local tourist Emma Zulu said ZAWA should act before some animals become extinct. She said such a situation could soon happen due to the decrease in the number on wildlife in the park.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, Ms Zulu expressed disappointment that the national park was dominated by four species.
"The Kafue National Park is only dominated by impalas, monkeys, antelopes and elephants. I came here expecting to see at least a lion or leopard but my disappointment was that I only saw the four species,” Ms Zulu.
She said having limited species was a deterrent to tourism growth while the country continued losing wildlife due to poaching.
Ms. Zulu appealed to the government to come up with a mechanism and protect wildlife from poachers and restock the game parks by setting up wildlife nurseries.
She explained that this could be done by importing certain animals and growing them in nurseries before releasing them back into the wild.
She noted that this would help in the preservation of wildlife and help the tourism sector effectively contribute to Gross Domestic Product growth.
She said if the Government ignored restocking the national parks they would remain just as white elephants.
"In the next few year this country will not have wildlife for tourists to view if the government does not come up with a solution,” Ms Zulu said.
She said with technology it was possible to restock the national parks and make them livelier and economically viable. "We will lose the contribution of the tourism sector to the economy if action is not taken by the relevant authorities in coming up with a permanent solution,” she said.
Ms Zulu also appealed to the government to strengthen security measures and ensure the protection of wildlife. Government raises about K7 million to K12 million annually from animal fees from trophy hunting of elephants alone while wildlife-based tourism created about 10 percent of jobs in Zambia, mostly for the rural communities who depended on the wildlife industry for employment.