Big and dangerous game – lion, buffalo and rhino – have escaped the park in recent weeks. A woman was hospitalized after being injured by one of the rhino, and the roaming lions have left the community in fear.
In Africa, these people are often the displaced, people from whom the land for the wildlife reserves has been forcibly taken. They are usually rural people with deep ties to the land, and strong traditions and culture that mean access to the land is culturally important, for grazing, medicinal plants and links to ancestors.
And these are all designed to make sure Earth is a healthy place for us all. Ecosystems will collapse if one part of the chain breaks. There is a much publicised story about the wolves of Yellowstone National Park in the US. This is a shortened version of the story told on Twitter by Dr Clayton Forrester.
14 wolves fixed the entire ecosystem of a park half the size of the Kruger National Park in a decade.The SABC News Current Affairs show “Cutting Edge” focused on the problems at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi on 23 August 2022. But wolves are apex predators, just like big cats in Africa, whales and crocodiles, large snakes, hyena, tigers and polar bears.
And when politics and lack of cultural understanding factors in, the tensions rise even more. So the short version is that farmers and communities who live alongside wildlife reserves are the victims, and not just physically in terms of the dangers of injury and even death. Urban populations tend to have a positive attitude towards wildlife, admiring their strength and beauty.
Find a way to live in harmony with the wildlife or move away as it their land!!