Following the recent killing of eleven lions in Queen Elizabeth, government through the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is in plans to recruit 500 more game rangers to curb incidents of poaching.
Government says that reinforcing the rangers will also help address the cases of human-wildlife conflict within national parks.
Weeks ago, 11 lions were found dead near Hamukungu fishing village in Queen Elizabeth national park. The lions are said to have been poisoned by a patoralist after they killed his cow.
The incident sparked wide condemnation from government, the private sector as well as conservationists across the globe. They said the killing of the lions was a big blow to Uganda’s tourism sector which is the leading foreign exchange earner.
During a press conference on Monday, the UWA Executive Director, Sam Mwandha said government is in the process of recruiting 500 new personnel to beef up the ranger force to address poaching and human-wildlife conflicts.
“We are strengthening the capacity of our intelligence and Investigations Units. Just before this incident happened, we had recruited experienced staff to head these two units,” he said in a statement.
Four suspects have been identified and have since recorded statements at Katwe Police. They were released on police bond, as investigations go on.
In other measures undertaken to prevent the reoccurrence of a similar incident, UWA have deployed rangers who are stationed in the area full time in addition to intensifying community sensitization and awareness on the importance of conservation.
“We are working with the Ministry of Tourism to develop laws and regulations to regulate activities in fishing villages and wildlife sanctuaries. If livestock cannot co-exist with wildlife, then livestock will have to give way for wildlife through legislation,” the statement further reads.
In the wake of the killing of the lions, several critics raised queries on why humans continue to inhabit national parks pointing to this as the cause for the human-wildlife conflict.
Meanwhile, UWA has also clarified that another lion which was reported dead on April 17 is suspected to have fought with a hippo and died of suffocation.
“The lion was trapped in a tunnel of a dense thicket with no escape route where her group had killed a hog. This is purely a case of fighting in the jungle which is considered a natural phenomenon,” UWA said.
Uganda is home to about 400 lions, with about 130 of these being in Queen Elizabeth national park. According to UWA, a significant number of tourists who visit the national parks are interested in seeing the big cats including lions.