‘Our people must learn to love animals’
With a Big Five game reserve nearing completion, there has been urgent call to end poaching.
“OUR people must learn to love animals, not just their cattle, goats and dogs at home, but game, which they need to realise is far more valuable for trading than cattle,” said Welcome Mphanga, the chairman of the Mayibuye Community Trust.
Mphanga called for an urgent end to poaching, as he spoke amidst the construction of the Mayibuye Community Game Reserve that will house the Big Five just a half an hour’s drive out of Durban. The project will foster the introduction of the Big Five wildlife, including rhino and elephant to the Camperdown area as early as next year. This will see the re-introduction of free-roaming elephant to the area for the first time in 150 years.
The Mayibuye Community is set to partner with the BFG Retail, which will facilitate community upliftment, conservation and commerce, as well as the creation of approximately 150 new jobs.
“We have a big educational problem on our hands and we need government support to teach the community about the negative effects of poaching. If they poach, they are stealing from their children in future generations,” he added. KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa has become a notorious hunting ground for various wildlife, such as monkeys, buck, elephants and the endangered rhinos.
“There is a time and place for hunting, within the culling season, but it must be controlled and must be part of a culling programme,” he said. Community members are urged to work with the conservationists to protect the eco-system and provide for the community.
