November & December 2006 Newsletter

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Lydia Hunt
5 years ago
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SOUTH LUANGWA CONSERVATION SOCIETY P.O BOX 3, MFUWE, slcs@iwayafrica.

2006. We have had a great response to our membership plea and many other generous donations and only hope it continues throughout the New Year. We would like to wish you all the best for 2007!

The river is steadily rising and thankfully we are now able to deploy some patrols by boat. It is my favourite time of year and I try to spend as much time as I can on the river.

! 2006 was probably the worst year yet for snared animals. Frequent reports of snared elephants, hyaena, lions and antelope kept coming in and on one day alone I had to dart four elephants.

1 SOUTH LUANGWA CONSERVATION SOCIETY P.O BOX 3, MFUWE, Tel: / November & December 2006 Newsletter Already nearly another new year, and from all of us at SLCS we would like to express our heartfelt thanks for all your support in We have had a great response to our membership plea and many other generous donations and only hope it continues throughout the New Year. We would like to wish you all the best for 2007!! The festive season in Luangwa has kept us busy with the fly camps now fully operational and the Mobile Reaction Team (MRT) in full force. The river is steadily rising and thankfully we are now able to deploy some patrols by boat. It is my favourite time of year and I try to spend as much time as I can on the river. It s hard to believe that in October we were crossing the Luangwa on foot!! Now it s gorgeous, green and very wet. Never ending snaring my biggest dilemma!! 2006 was probably the worst year yet for snared animals. Frequent reports of snared elephants, hyaena, lions and antelope kept coming in and on one day alone I had to dart four elephants. A couple of these needed to have a follow up treatment but it is always difficult to find them again. We have decided to go a step further and purchase some telemetry equipment on the good advice of Dr. Douw Grobler. A radio collar for elephants has been ordered and will be used to track elephants that need secondary treatment. This will save us a lot of time spent out in the bush looking for these animals, often in vain. It would also enable us to assess the healing process. The collar would only be on for a relatively short time and would be removed and re used at a later stage. I would like to say a special thanks to Douw and JJ Van Altena (Catchco SA) for all the support and invaluable advice they have provided and continue to provide. Treating a snare wound on a calf in Nsefu Sector. Mum also had to be darted in order to get to the calf. They were only too happy to wake up together. ~ 1 ~

A great team effort!! The SLCS and ZAWA darting team work extremely well together and have become quite experienced with elephants. Each person knows his / her job and gets on with it immediately.

Its increase in 2006 is something that has been worrying me throughout the year.

Over December I realized that our anti-snaring patrols are having an insignificant effect on the level of wildlife off take due to snaring.

deterrent, however the number of reports we receive from informers about the availability of meat in the community is exceptionally high. Much of this meat is obtained from snared animals.

2 A great team effort!! The SLCS and ZAWA darting team work extremely well together and have become quite experienced with elephants. Each person knows his / her job and gets on with it immediately. Another youngster with a snared lower leg. The very aggressive tusk less mum had to be darted too. The snaring crisis is one that is unlikely to be eliminated entirely. Its increase in 2006 is something that has been worrying me throughout the year. No doubt the increase in human population is part of the problem and the wide availability of game in the GMA s must contribute, but the free availability of wire is also a contributing factor. Over December I realized that our anti-snaring patrols are having an insignificant effect on the level of wildlife off take due to snaring. In combination with ZAWA patrols we are removing scores of snares from the bush that would otherwise kill more animals, and it is true that the presence of scouts in the community acts as a deterrent, however the number of reports we receive from informers about the availability of meat in the community is exceptionally high. Much of this meat is obtained from snared animals. Snares have been found near schools, in cemeteries and even near my own house it seems everyone is doing it!! This elephant, reported by Kafunta Lodge had a snared trunk. It is likely this bottom part of the trunk will still fall off. The snare was removed but too much damage had already been done. These days it is risky for poachers to use firearms in this area as their shots are heard and quick a response can be put into effect. Wire of all types is so freely available right now that it is like free ammunition. In view of the above, we decided to go through all of our snares (ZAWA and SLCS) and determine the type and source of the wires. Many days were spent sorting through thousands and thousands of snares which led to four main sources: ~ 2 ~

Zesco Power Supply lines Old bicycle and car tyre wires which had been burnt out Bicycles and vehicle cables (brakes lines etc) Solar fence wire Zamtel wire (telephone company) Unknown sources

We have recently managed to identify a scrap metal company in Lusaka who will be willing to take all of the snares we have, cut them in to small pieces and melt them.

3 Zesco Power Supply lines Old bicycle and car tyre wires which had been burnt out Bicycles and vehicle cables (brakes lines etc) Solar fence wire Zamtel wire (telephone company) Unknown sources (possibly building wire and others) The sheer number of snares in the ZAWA store room is staggering. We have recently managed to identify a scrap metal company in Lusaka who will be willing to take all of the snares we have, cut them in to small pieces and melt them. This will be a feat in itself as we will need to get all of the snares (truck loads) accompanied by scouts to Lusaka. ZAWA is currently deciding whether we should make this a national program and use it for awareness purposes. Any funds generated from this project would be pumped directly back in to the anti-snaring campaign. By far, the majority of snares recovered to date are from Zesco power lines (electricity cables) that are lying abandoned all over the GMA s. It is appalling on Zesco s part that they have allowed this to happen for so many years and are surely losing a fortune themselves in wire. Hopefully with our planned sensitization programs for all sources of wire, they will agree to move it for safe keeping. I believe if we remove the sources of the wire, it can only help to reduce the level of snaring. The majority of the local community assumes that snaring is a harmless means of obtaining meat and most people have never even considered the possibility of what it does to the animals that are not targeted such as elephants and lions. Thousands of snares made from Zesco power lines. Grading different types of snares. Rainy Season Fly Camps and law enforcement The 2006 / 2007 rainy season fly camps are well underway and camps have been implemented in the Mwamba area to cover Mwamba, Lion Camp and Lubi. A second fly camp has been put in to cover Kapamba and Luamfwa. Luamfwa has provided a boat for use to assist with this fly camp deployment which is very welcome as our old second engine has died and we are left with only one engine. The resources for a third fly camp will be used to man the bottom of the escarpment throughout the rains. An interesting and possibly new habit was revealed recently when ZAWA, SLCS and Kakumbi CRB received information on an elephant that was poached in the GMA. On further investigation and village raids that led to the arrest of the elephant poacher and five other suspects selling meat, the hunter led the group to where he had actually killed the elephant. Not a single sign or trace of the elephant could be seen and if a patrol had passed through the area they would not have known an elephant had been killed. The meat and ivory had been taken but everything else including skull, skin and bones had been buried. This is a huge task and one that is hard work and time consuming and we are quite astounded that this is occurring. If this is a common practice, there may well be a lot more elephants being poached in the GMA than we are aware of. The MRT group has had more good results over the past few months and has really formed a successful and dedicated unit within ZAWA. On a recent operation on the Muchinga Escarpment, six suspects were apprehended including a notorious poacher, ten muzzle loading guns, two shot guns, ammunitions and the dried meat of two buffaloes, bushbuck and common duikers. ~ 3 ~

Patrols and Results for November & December 2006.

4 Patrols and Results for November & December Month Long patrol Short patrol Day Patrol Snares Suspects Nets Firearms Ammunition Drying Racks Dead elephant Ivory Fishermen removed Nov nil 2 3 Dec nil 42 Total Fishing Ban The Government Department of Fisheries has implemented a country wide ban on all fishing activities from the 1st December 2006 to 1st March 2007 for the breeding season. This is much welcome news for us because although there is usually a ban on fishing at this time of year in Zambia, it has not applied to the Luangwa River. We are also hoping that it will help reduce the amount of snaring taking place during these months although this may be wishful thinking. Fishermen are being informed and sensitized on why the ban is implemented and informed that in the long run they will be the ones to benefit from larger harvests. We have faced some difficulties already as the fishermen are viewing this ban as punishment and have stated in no uncertain terms that they will start snaring even more for the duration of the ban. Kakumbi Community Resource Board and SLCS partnership Our partnership with Kakumbi CRB has been formalized and strengthened with the agreement and signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. SLCS also recently signed a MoU with The Director General ZAWA, who now recognize us as a significant partner. A recent workshop held and organized by Chipembele Wildlife Education Centre enabled SLCS and KCRB to come up with a joint plan for operations. This led to the appointment of the CRB scout, Kenneth Chulu as Deputy Unit Leader. Kenneth will assist the Unit Leader, Richard Zulu with the planning and supervision of patrols and forest guards. Chipembele Workshop. SLCS Base and Uyoba School construction. Work is underway and almost finished on the new operations and control room at SLCS. Our sincere thanks go to The Royal Danish Embassy for funding this. It has proved necessary to have a second office area for operations in order to keep them discreet, as the main office area has now become a reception for chilli fences and other community related issues. We have also managed to source funding from Nathalie Bouille of Lion Camp to construct a teacher s house at Uyoba Community School. Many, many thanks to Nathalie. The Zambian Government has provided a teacher for the school and it is our hope that with the construction of two houses we will be able to secure a second teacher. We would also like to thank Val Keight from the UK for her very generous donation which will allow us to install a borehole at the school. Val also sent out a box containing a football kit for the school team much to the delight of the children. The school teachers and children would also like to say a big thanks to Susan Smith and Lisa Zupon from the States for their boxes of story books, pencils and other classroom goodies. ~ 4 ~

Chilli Fence Training In December, SLCS invited a representative from Elephant Pepper Development Trust in Livingstone to come to Mfuwe and assess our chilli project.

We learnt a lot from Malvern and have asked him to come back in January for another training workshop which will involve farmers from the local community.

5 Chilli Fence Training In December, SLCS invited a representative from Elephant Pepper Development Trust in Livingstone to come to Mfuwe and assess our chilli project. Malvern spent three days with us visiting different project sites and training Billy Banda in chilli farming and other alternative methods for human animal conflict mitigation. We learnt a lot from Malvern and have asked him to come back in January for another training workshop which will involve farmers from the local community. Chilli farmers test out the new treadle pumps during the driest of months. Hunting legal or illegal? The safari hunting season keeps us busy and on our toes for a good part of the year. As gazetted honorary wildlife police officers, Alec Cole, Steve Tolan and I often receive reports of safari hunters operating suspiciously in certain areas and we are obliged to go and check. The guidelines for hunting are somewhat confusing as most safari hunting outfits and photographic outfits are working in the same areas, often clashing. Naturally this presents a number of problems. There are normally agreements between both parties such as not hunting too close to a safari lodge or in the vicinity of game drives but it seems more and more often that hunters in the area do not care for these gentlemen s agreements. In October, I was called by a photographic operator to go to a very popular and busy elephant crossing point. The report was that a hunting operator was at the crossing point (outside the park) sizing up an elephant to shoot. The scout on board politely asked all the photographic vehicles to leave so that they could shoot their elephant. This was an extremely distressing report and the mere fact that the hunting operator could even think of shooting an elephant in such a popular tourist area was quite shocking to say the least. I arrived on the scene as fast as I could and spoke to the hunter about this who admitted they were looking for an elephant but had not intended on shooting it right there. The three photographic guides I spoke to said differently and the clients they had on board were quite disturbed. There have been a number of similar incidents involving different species in different areas this year. ZAWA has made much effort in Mfuwe to control this behaviour and their good work led to the discovery of false licenses being issued from Lusaka. It has also led to the arrest of a number of hunters. In conjunction with ZAWA, next year we hope to implement a team similar to the MRT that will concentrate on hunting. We are indebted to the following new members: Corporate Individual Remote Africa Safaris Ben & Nathalie Koop Patty Moreira Susan McDermott Clare Rowntree Kristina Underdal Laura Ashman Jacques Deere Sheryl Wine Morene Bodner Trevor Hulme Anne Sibald Marian Robertson Rachel Noble Trevor Hulme Bob Compton Hans Teitz Justin Mason Johan Johaan John CJ ~ 5 ~

6 A special thanks to Jeremy Pope and Conservation Foundation Zambia (CFZ) for providing us with new much needed hand held radios, batteries and chargers for this year s fly camps. CFZ are also sponsoring the radios collars that have been ordered to track snared animals. Thanks also to Robin Pope Safaris for adding a direct link to SLCS on their website; this has already generated more interest in the Society. A huge thanks also to my good friend in London, Jon Benbow for designing our new SLCS Luangwa Message Boards. Please have a look at it on the our website or direct link on Feel free to register and contact us with anything about conservation or the park in general. We look forward to giving you more successful news in the New Year, until then, enjoy the festive season. With warm wishes from us all at SLCS. ~ 6 ~

Trade plus Aid Grant for the Honorary Rangers Rapid Action. Team (RATZ), South Luangwa, Zambia. Final Report. April 5 th 2004

62-62 Upper Street, London, N1 0NY Tel: +44 (0) 20 7354 7960 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7354 7961 Email: maryrice@eia-international.org Trade plus Aid Grant for the Honorary Rangers Rapid Action Team (RATZ), South