22 Feb 2023

Botswana has experienced a significant increase in incidences of rhino poaching in 2020. Responding to a question in Parliament on Monday Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Mabuse Pule attributed the increase to a number of factors including increased demand for rhino horns in the international market.

Mr Pule, who was responding on behalf of Minister of Environment and Tourism, said a total of 138 rhinos were poached from 2018 to 2022.  He said the figure however declined yearly following increased anti-poaching interventions, while some were translocated from the Okavango Delta to safer locations.

He added that the ministry, in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies had put in place interventions that were geared towards curbing poaching and the current trend of low numbers of poaching demonstrated positive results. “It is worth noting that two rhinos died during the translocation due to injuries sustained during their capture.

The mortalities were however not due to mishandling,” he said. Further, he said 76 rhinos died due to natural causes between 2019 and 2020 and most of the mortalities were from old age, diseases and injuries sustained during fights over breeding territories. He said two rhinos were poached at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary during the period of October to November last year.

On white backed vultures, Mr Pule said two were reported dead as a result of poisoning in Ngamiland in 2021 while 175 died last year in the same area with 160 killed in Chobe district, 12 in the Central district and three in Ngamiland. He added that 27 white backed vultures had been poisoned thus far this year. Serowe South MP, Mr Leepetswe Lesedi had asked the minister to state the number of rhinos that had been poached and those that died from natural causes since April 2018 and what had caused rhino poaching to spiral in the last four years.

MP Lesedi also wanted the minister to explain why rhinos were moved to/from Ghanzi and how many had died due to mishandling during the relocation. Again, the MP wanted to know how many white backed vultures were reported dead in Botswana in the past two years and further, if there were any interventions to control poaching and possible extinction of endangered species. ends