The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism has issued a stern warning to poachers, saying it will be hot on their tails – even during the festive season.
The ministry issued this warning on Tuesday regarding the ministry’s ongoing festive season awareness campaign on environmental safety.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Romeo Muyunda, said the campaign would run for the entire festive season, however, the ministry would focus mainly on the Zambezi, Kavango West, Kavango East, Oshikoto, Oshana, Ohangwena, Omusati, Kunene, Erongo, Otjozodjupa and Khomas areas.
Muyunda said the ministry aims to sensitise citizens to be environmentally conscious and to encourage them not to take part in illegal activities such as poaching.
“Our wild animals are a major attraction for tourists to the country, contributing to revenue generation and employment creation.
“As such, Namibians are being encouraged by this campaign to value our wildlife and play a part in protecting it. Those intending to indulge themselves in these exercises are risking being caught and facing the full wrath of the Namibian law.
“It must be clear that we will not relent in our efforts to protect and preserve our natural resources just because it’s the holiday season. We are on high alert, and people must be warned,” he said.
Muyunda said the campaign will also focus on littering and irresponsible waste disposal, which happens a lot during the holiday season.
“We have observed that some holidaymakers throw garbage on the roadside while in transit. Furthermore, garbage generated at festivities is usually not managed well.
“It ends up in our environment, becoming an eyesore. The campaign is encouraging members of the public as well as business people to adopt responsible waste disposal methods,” he said.
According to Muyunda, previous festive seasons have shown that people tend to forget about their safety and indulge in risky activities.
“Our concerns specifically are in areas where you find dangerous predators and harmful wild animals. Risky activities include swimming in infested places.
“Other people have picnics in the wild – all risky activities with the potential to harm them. We would like to urge holidaymakers to do away with such risky activities,” he cautioned.
The Zambezi regional festive season joint security cluster operation, which started in November, has seen the successful arrest of 10 suspects and the confiscation of over 57 elephant tusks, elephant tail bungles and rifles.
Zambezi regional police spokesperson inspector Kisco Sitali last week said the arrested suspects in three separate intel-led operations at Kapani are part of a group of suspected transnational armed poachers, who use the Zambezi region as a transit route to poach in Botswana.
“Most of the suspects are Zambians, while two of those implicated are Namibians,” he said.
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