The government has vowed to take serious punitive measures against foreigners who enter the country and then engage in poaching.
Minister Lazaro Nyalandu
The Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu, said that irrespective of their countries of origin, the government would not hesitate to take action against such people as the country had embarked on an operation against poaching.
Mr Nyalandu said wild animals, including elephants, were the pride of the country, adding that they highly contributed to government revenue through tourism, hence they should be safeguarded at any cost.
The deputy minister was responding to a supplementary question raised by Ms Riziki Lulida, who claimed that poaching was mostly being perpetrated by foreign nationals, yet the government was not taking serious measures to deal with them.
Ms Lulida said that foreigners, mostly from Asian countries, were killing wild animals with abandon, probably with an ill motive to ensure that the animals perished from Tanzanian parks and reserves.
“It is shameful to see Asians, particularly Chinese nationals, engaging in the massacre of our animals and transporting them to their countries for their own benefit. Why are you not dealing with this issue while it has been severally reported by all the relevant authorities,” Ms Lulida said.
She added that last Sunday a Chinese national was arrested for illegally being in possession of 700 tusks, which means that about 350 elephants have been killed
Source Tanzania Daily News
