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ZIMBABWE - Destruction of wildlife, the environment and sensitive eco-systems |
 HOME ROLL OF HONOUR CATHY'S LETTERS: THIS WEEK LINKS TO PAGES IN THIS REPORT: Introduction Politics & Poaching Habitat Loss Targeted Areas/resettlement Drought Years Invaders and Invaded The Scouts The poachers Conservancy Proposals to Govt Abuja, Commonwealth & Bubiana The Peace Parks The President's decree Conclusion |
HABITAT LOSS In addition to the loss of animals, Barberton Ranch on Bubiana has lost an estimated 20,000 trees in the clearing of some 210 plots for subsistence agriculture. The estimate for the whole conservancy is in the region of 240,000. On neighbouring Chiredzi, a 5,000 hectare section of the conservancy, recently bought by Theresa and Gary Warth, has been entirely burnt out. Says Theresa, 'It all went up in a day and they're still burning what's left now. Burnt land is easier to poach than thick bush. It enables the poacher to hunt with dogs as the animals are in clear view. The wildlife here are deeply unsettled and are also rapidly losing condition as there is no graze or browse for them now that it's all been burnt out.' Overall in Chiredzi 50% of the 270,000 acre conservancy has been destroyed by burning and clearing. Rob Style, Chiredzi's Vice Chairman, reports, 'The worst thing is the deforestation. Mopane forests, which take years and years to regenerate, are being hammered really hard. Big chunks of forest are being cut down and burnt, opening up the bush, and exposing vast tracts of soil to erosion. A whole ecosystem is being destroyed.'
On Save, Roger Whittal spent three weeks fighting fires started by the settlers. 'As soon as we put one out they'd start another. Eventually we gave up and just let it go.' He continues, 'Being a drought area here, if we don't get any rain this year, we'll have no grass. Having been burnt out like this there's nothing for the animals to eat and if there's no rain, the animals will starve. Apart from that it's all the things that have been killed in the fires. In all the trees that have been destroyed there were nesting birds, a lot of small animals taking refuge in the trees and bush, and even dead trees have holes in them where so many animals breed, or birds lay their eggs. These have just been burnt out.'
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