Animals Caught in Zimbabwe’s Anarchical Land Grab

By Adam M. Roberts

Twenty years after gaining independence from Great Britain, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has put the wheels of civil war in motion, encouraging black veterans of Zimbabwe’s war of Independence to occupy farmland owned by whites.

It has been reported in Zimbabwe that many of these “war veterans” are too young to have been walking, let alone fighting, during the war, but the title “war veterans” has now become an ironic shorthand in Zimbabwe for anyone who intimidates farmers and invades their land. The result of this new internal fighting has been increased bloodshed for both human and nonhuman animals.

Reports out of the embattled nation in sub-Saharan Africa are replete with dire revelations of land invasions and wildlife and livestock depredation:

• Owners of one of Zimbabwe’s top game sanctuaries, Imire Game Park, were informed on November 14 that the government intends to seize the land. The park is home to impala, highly endangered black rhinos, elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards, giraffes, and hippos.—The Daily News, Zimbabwe, November 17, 2000

• “One farm alone has seen the violent death or maiming of more than 300 plains game, four cheetah, a leopard, a wild dog, four rhino and several elephant, caught in poachers’ snares or shot by automatic weapons.”“—Mail & Guardian, South Africa, November 8, 2000

• War veterans are reportedly eviscerating livestock for meat while the animals are still alive. According to one report, “A few weeks back, at Tarara farm, a heifer suffered a gruesome death when suspected war vets removed its udder, gouged its eyes and cut off its lips before ripping its stomach and removing an unborn calf.”“—The Zimbabwe Standard, November 5, 2000

• A black rhino was caught and killed in a snare in the Save Conservancy where over 1,500 animals have been reported killed in the past six months. “Locals say some of the conservancy owners have even resorted to slaughtering their own wildlife and selling the meat to recover the money they invested on the conservancies, before they are closed down.”—The Herald, Zimbabwe, November 9, 2000 and African Eye News Service, South Africa, November 12, 2000

With each massacre, wild animals disappear and so too do the dollars that could have otherwise been brought to the region through ecotourism. According to the October 8, 2000 Zimbabwe Standard, “Tourism in the Chiredzi district has come to a standstill, losing in excess of $2 million because of massive poaching on Mungwenzi Ranch.”

Meanwhile, the London Sunday Times reported in July that Mugabe is financing part of his government’s activities by selling almost a million dollars worth of elephant ivory to China. According to the report, “The Cargo, flown to Beijing via Libya in May, is thought to have been part payment for thousands of Kalashnikov rifles that were flown into the Zimbabwean capital at the same time.”

Land distribution in Zimbabwe is inequitable, and the vast majority of “communal” black farmers were originally allocated marginal, dry land that is unsuitable for farming. However, the unfettered free-for-all in Zimbabwe is unlikely to ensure the long-term protection of arable land in the country and it is already clear that the effects on wildlife have been catastrophic. Zimbabwe is in a state of violent disarray, which, if not contained immediately, could prove irreversibly disastrous for both its wildlife and its people.

Bottom Photo: This baby elephant was caught around the neck by a wire snare. The harder the elephant tried to become free, the tighter the snare constricted. The area around this victim was well trampled as the rest of the herd apparently stayed in attendance until the calf tragically died. (Craig Davies/African Radio)