Rwanda has not recorded a decline of elephants in the past
few years, Telesphore Ngoga, the acting Conservation Division Manager at the
Rwanda Development Board (RDB), has said.
Ngoga was reacting to a study published in the scientific
journal by the Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS), recently. The report says elephant numbers have decreased by 62
per cent across Central Africa over the last 10 years.
It was released during the 2013 Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, currently underway in
Bangkok, Thailand.
“We haven’t encountered any major decline in the last 10
years, instead the population of elephants is increasing. In Akagera National
Park, we have about 100 elephants, which live in protected areas,” Ngoga said.
“We no longer have challenges of poaching in Rwanda,
although we lost five elephants in 2011 and 2012, two were killed by poachers,
one was electrocuted by the park’s fence while the rest died of natural death,”
he added.
Ngoga, however, said they have put in place an anti-poaching
team that oversees wildlife monitoring patrols in the parks.
“We are planning a census for wild animals soon and that is
when we will be able to determine the exact number of elephants in the
country,” he said.
Findings from the study indicate that large areas in Central
African countries, which were elephant habitats 10 years ago, now have few of
the animals remaining.
The survey was carried out in forests in Cameroon, Central
African Republic, DR Congo, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville.
In Rwanda, elephants are found in Akagera National Park in
Eastern Province and Volcanoes National Park in Northern Province.
Call for conservation
Prosper Uwingeli, the chief warden at Volcanoes National
Park, said the number of elephants in the park is close to 50.
“It is very difficult to know the exact figure, because they
move around Greater Virunga Massif. We haven’t seen cases of elephant poaching
in Volcanoes National Park,” he said.
The Virunga Massif cuts across three countries; Rwanda, Uganda
and DR Congo. The study includes the work of more than 60 scientists between
2002 and 2011.
“Saving the species requires a coordinated global effort in
the countries where elephants occur, along the ivory smuggling routes, and at
the final destination in the Far East. We don’t have much time before elephants
are gone,” says the report’s lead author, Dr Fiona Maisels from WCS.
Conservationists called for immediate action to protect the
remaining elephant populations.
Last year, Rwanda’s tourism sector generated $281.8m (about
Rwf178b) compared to $251.3m (about Rwf159b) in 2011, according to the 2012
Tourism Report.
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