Gabon: Elephant killing, Woleu-Ntem's solution to the human-wildlife conflict
*Translated from the French by an automated online translation service, so
please excuse the roughness. See link for original. *
Gabon: Elephant killing, Woleu-Ntem's solution to the human-wildlife
conflict
Andy Marvine Nze, Gabon Media Time
July 28, 2021
See link for photo & audio of article (in French)
From 18 to 20 July, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Water and
Forests Charles Mve Ella stayed in Woleu-Ntem to seek the views of victims
of the pachyderms destruction. It was a meeting which allowed the people of
the north to discuss the culling of elephants as a solution to the
conflict, reports the daily L'Union in its issue of Wednesday, July 28,
2021.
While the human-wildlife conflict is in full swing, the populations do not
seem convinced by the solutions proposed by the government. Thus, gathered
by the Minister Delegate of Water and Forests, on tour in Woleu-Ntem, the
inhabitants of the five departments of the north were keen to give their
opinions on the situation which does not seem to have an end.
During the meeting, the victims recommended that the government take strong
and courageous decisions to resolve the conflict between them and the
pachyderms. “With us in Medouneu, the elephant drinks water from the
barrels behind the house. This means that our lives are threatened on a
daily basis” declared the representative of the “United Hearts” association
of the grouping of villages, Mbam-Assegma, quoted by the daily L'Union.
In the process, the latter did not fail to outline some possible solutions.
“We must systematically kill the elephants that are straying. This is the
only option,” he said, ruling out de facto the option of electric barriers
proposed by the Ministry of Water and Forests and which does not seem to
meet with the consent of the populations of the affected provinces.
As a reminder, the Ministry of Water and Forests recorded 8,374 complaints
in 2015, reporting the destruction of plantations and bodily attacks caused
by elephants, attacks that caused eight deaths between 2020 and 2021. To
remedy the situation, the government has taken the decision to build
electric fences, to compensate the victims.