02 Mar 2021

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) a social media post alleging that about 120 rhinos,    with and without horns, have been slaughtered in 18 months, borders on economic sabotage.

  Refuting the claims through a press  release,  the department says they “are devoid of any truth, and are misleading, malicious, and grossly irresponsible”.

     The release says it is regrettable that the post, which alleges that “after Corona there will be none left for tourists to come and watch”, comes from a former very high ranking government official.

  It says such a person should be aware of the security sensitivities of the subject matter and its potential negative implication on tourism, which is the second highest foreign revenue earner for the country.

“The motive for the post is unclear, but borders on economic sabotage,” says the release.

The release calls upon members of the public to verify any anti-poaching data with DWNP before making irresponsible and misleading statements that may have a negative implication on Botswana.

“Batswana are urged to jealously guard our wildlife and heritage resources against ill-intentioned posts, such as the one cited above,” states the release.

In terms of the cited numbers, DWNP explains that it has a long standing policy of not discussing operational and security-sensitive anti-poaching information in the media as that only serves to increase the safety risks that on-the-ground operatives face.

It says DWNP rangers and their collaborating partners from other security organs already work tirelessly to protect the country’s natural resources, mostly in very tough and inhabitable terrains.

The department sees no benefit whatsoever in exposing them to further danger by discussing the number and locations of the cases that the rangers are dealing with, it says.

DWNP assures members of the public that the COVID-19 lockdown and curfew have in fact had a very direct and significant positive impact on the anti-poaching operations of DWNP and its collaborators.

The release says from March 2020 to last month, reports of transgressions against wildlife, including subsistence and commercial poaching, killing of ‘problem animals’ by farmers, illegal wildlife trade, wildlife poisoning events, vehicle accidents with wildlife, arrests for unlawful possession of government trophy and all other issues of interest to the law enforcement agencies, decreased by over 70 per cent when compared with  the pre- COVID-19 period from March 2019 to February 2020. Ends