Tanzania dismantles 95 poaching syndicates

Dodoma, June 5 Tanzanian wildlife authorities told the country's Parliament that they dismantled 95 poaching syndicates in the east African nation in the 2020/2021 financial year.

Damas Ndumbaro, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, said on Friday that 302 poaching attempts were thwarted across the country's wildlife-protected areas during the same period, reports Xinhua news agency.

Ndumbaro made the remarks while tabling his Ministry's budget proposals for the 2021/2022 financial year in parliament in the capital Dodoma.

He said a 2020 aerial elephant census revealed that the number of elephants in the Serengeti ecological system increased from 6,087 in 2014 to 7,061 in 2020.

Tanzania accounts one of Africa's most significant remaining elephant populations, the only larger population being found in Botswana, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.

In 1976, numbers in Tanzania stood at 316,000, but major declines in the late 1980's and especially since 2009, driven by an upsurge in the illegal trade in ivory, have decimated the population which today stands at roughly 45,000.

"Measures aimed at eliminating poaching included beefing up patrols and reinforcement of communications in wildlife protected areas," the Minister told the House, adding that the government has reduced poaching by 90 per cent.

Meanwhile, Ndumbaro said authorities are continuing with efforts aimed at eliminating invasive plant species which are hazardous to wild animals in wildlife-protected areas.