By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Ugandan Zikulabe Isaac is a local farmer with a 3-acre onions, cotton and coffee plantation, has expressed satisfaction over the electric anti-poaching initiative for wildlife preservation which has helped him count foreseen profits from his produce.
“It is as if we not bordering the park. The government helped us with this electric fence. When these wild animals attempt to enter our gardens, they run back,” he told African News.
The line runs for 43.8 kilometers and it is being extended further with a growing population and encroachment into gazetted conservation areas, the wild animals have very little space to live.
“We are now going towards the DRC boarder. And once this is sealed it will really address this issue of crop raiding in these areas. So we see this as a big opportunity for positive living between the population and the park” says Pontius Ezuma ,chef warden of the Queen Elizabeth conservation area.
Since the initiative was introduced three years ago, the human-wildlife contact has been limited especially with elephants.
The idea to separate these habitats was by Space for Giants that partnered with the Uganda Wildlife Authority to construct the fence.