Staff Reporter
Government is set to establish a Human-Wildlife Conflict Relief Fund for Victims in Zimbabwe (The Relief Fund) to cushion victims of human -wildlife conflict by way of funeral assistance and payment of hospital bills.
This follows the realisation that people living adjacent to wildlife areas are always in danger of being attacked by the animals, and it has been established that the frequency of such attacks was increasing.
Addressing members of the Press after the 32nd Cabinet session yesterday, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa said that the Relief Fund will be funded by proceeds from hunting and other crowd funding initiatives.
“Accordingly, Cabinet adopted the establishment of a relief fund to cushion the victims of human-wildlife conflict by way of funeral assistance and an amount paid towards hospitalization and treatment with a set limit. The payments will cover three categories, namely: death, maiming, and injuries. A specialized human-wildlife conflict unit will be established under Zimparks.
“The Fund is based on a self-financing model where proceeds from hunting and other crowd funding activities will be mobilized to resource the Fund. These sources include reserving a hunting quota under the CITES granted quota, a levy on hunting revenue accruing to safari operators, Rural District Councils and conservancy owners,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
The Minister added that this year alone, as of August 2022, 46 Zimbabwean lives have been lost to human-wildlife conflict, with the most affected being Mashonaland West Province, where 19 people were killed, mostly in Kariba. She added that regionally, Zimbabwe has the highest number of deaths from human wildlife conflict.
Meanwhile, Minister Mutsvangwa revealed that Government, through the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks), was implementing interventions to reduce human-wildlife conflict. The measures includes conservation education in the use of barriers; translocation; sterilization and selective culling of wildlife; approved hunting quotas and fencing to restrict or control the movement of wildlife.
