Coronavirus: Poaching fears spread at Wildlife Dept.

Calistus Bosaletswe

A leaked document in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism shows that some officers are deeply concerned about possible escalation in poaching if Botswana Defence Force (BDF) troops deployed in anti-poaching are withdrawn from national parks in the Okavango Delta and transferred to support Covid-19 restrictions.

DISS fails to account for concealed ivory

The Directorate on Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) has been accused of using its anti-poaching operation as a way of concealing elephant tusks from the responsible government department and potentially using it as a conduit for ivory smuggling.