Village Game Scouts form ninety percent of ground operation staff involved in protecting wildlife and natural resources in Southern Africa. Unfortunately they lack the necessary equipment, training and support from governments to protect themselves and the world’s threatened wildlife from poachers. They are not adequately remunerated by their respective governments. This makes it difficult for them to meet their daily social needs such as securing their staple food, buying medicines when they and their family are sick, and sending their children to school.
This has also sadly resulted in a slowdown of operations in conducting anti-poaching patrols by the village scouts – without food the scouts do not have the energy to undertake patrols. As a consequence poaching is rising significantly day by day and the situation for wildlife is dire. Unless quick action is taken to get the village scouts back on patrol Africa’s wildlife will be depleted at unprecedented rates, which is not only tragic for our natural heritage but for our safari tourism economy also. Without any exaggeration, poaching rates are now so high in most parts of Southern African National Parks that international tourists on game drives will soon find wildlife difficult to spot.
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