Uganda Wildlife Authority arrested 2,837 poachers in 2022

Kisoro, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A total of 2,837 suspects were arrested over alleged poaching and possession of wild animal products in protected conservation areas in Uganda in the years 2021-2022, according to figures released by the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

The arrests were made during patrols conducted by rangers and security authorities in conservation areas. UWA Communications Manager Bashir Hangi says that out of the arrested, 546 suspects were produced to courts of law and 396 have since been charged and convicted.

In addition, 26,578 assorted poaching implements that include spears, arrows, panga’s, hunting nets and guns among others were recovered, alongside 46,515 assorted wildlife products that include skins, meat and teeth.

Hangi adds that the illegal activities conducted by poachers in protected conservation areas are threatening the tourism industry in Uganda.  Without revealing numbers, Hangi also says that UWA also in the same year lost some of its staff to poachers.

Dickson Katana, the acting Conservation Warden in Charge of the Bwindi-Mgahiga Conservation Sector says that as a way of reducing cases of poaching, the Wildlife authority has introduced a Smart Park Monitoring System (RBM/SMART), a technological tool for easy data collection and management analysis for enhancing patrol coverage and illegal activities in protected conservation areas.

Lamech Tuhimbaze, the chairperson for Nyanamo Community Conservation Development Organization a community-based organization that advocates for no to poaching in protected conservation areas in Kisoro district attributes unending cases of poaching to failure or the government to support reformed poachers with capital and continuous sensitization. He also attributes the cases to the love for free meat by the poachers.

Tuhimbaze says they are supporting 35 reformed poachers under Rushaga Community Reformed Poachers and Kanyamahene Community Reformed Poachers near Bwindi Impenetrable National Park with rabbits so that the love for free meat can be solved by slaughtering rabbits instead of poaching.

He says that they have also resorted to planting medicinal indigenous trees in communities in order to stop locals from accessing national parks.

In March 2021, six lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park Ishasha sector of Kihihi sub-county, Kanungu district were poisoned to death as poachers’ target to extract fat oil from bones and intestines for sale at 40,000 Shillings per litre.
Poachers Vincent Tumuheirwe, David Miryango, and Robert Ariho, were arrested. Later Tumuheirwe and Ariho were in September 2022 sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty.  Miryango was released after pleading innocent.

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