MAPUTO– The Niassa National Reserve in northern Mozambique will be deploying a light aircraft and a helicopter to assist it in its battle against poachers, Radio Mozambique reports.
The Niassa Reserve is the largest conservation area in Mozambique, covering much of Niassa Province, and a part of Montepuez district in the neighbouring province of Cabo Delgado. It covers an area of 42,000 square kilometres, or about the size of Wales.
The two aircraft will be deployed full time to patrol the reserve, says the administrator of the Niassa Reserve, Baldeu Chande. He told Radio Mozambique that the use of aircraft would increase the efficiency of the inspection teams fighting organized gangs of poachers, many of whom slip into Niassa from neighbouring Tanzania.
The reserve still has Mozambique’s largest population of elephants, but between 2002 and 2011, the Reserve is estimated to have lost 10,000 elephants, slaughtered to feed the illegal ivory trade. Many of the animals killed, said Chande, were young, and their deaths compromise the reproduction of the species.
In the fight against poaching, last year a paltry nine firearms were seized from the poaching gangs.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK