- Botswana -
Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi (pictured below), the fifth and current President of Botswana, has warned his government will fight poachers!!!
As VOA reports, Botswana has seen an unprecedented rise in rhinoceros poaching in the last 12 months.
The government reports that in the last ten months nearly 50 of the animals have been killed, about one-tenth of the country’s rhino population.
Officials say at this rate the black rhino population could be wiped out by the end of next year.
Botswana’s security forces are taking the fight to the poachers, most of whom come in from neighboring Namibia and Zambia.
On Monday, March 30, one poaching suspect was gunned down in a confrontation with local soldiers.
On Wednesday, four more suspected poachers were killed in the thickets of the Okavango Delta, home to most of the country’s rhinos.
President Masisi said: “There are serious problems with poaching. Poachers do not bear a spear or a knobkerrie, or a knife, like some of those who break into households.”
He added: “Poachers bear sophisticated arms, and poachers are sufficiently radicalized to kill. So they are dangerous. We put an army in place to defend this country, so any intruder is an enemy. And unfortunately, as with any war, there are casualties.”
Conservationist Neil Fitt said the recent killing of suspected poachers is proof the government and the Botswana Defense Forces are on the right path.
Mr. Fitt also said: “Obviously the taking of any life is not to be condoned. One has to try not to do that.”
He then added: “However, as I think we all know, in the last year or so, the poaching incidents in Botswana have increased dramatically. We have lost a lot of rhinos, and I am not too sure how many elephants we have lost. The fact that the BDF [army] are upping their game plan, I think, is a very good thing.”
*Voice For Us believes that anyone who has so little regard for any kind and form of life does not deserve to be alive themselves!*