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July 2002 In This Issue Anti-Poaching Art Auction Thanks Leopard Project Communities Anti-Poaching Apart from Makao, many months this year have been a wash out as far as anti-poaching activities have been concerned. We concentrated on Mlele and Makao during the wet months, with John Magembe coming to Arusha to carry out a combination of anti-poaching and conservation education in the Burko area. Once things dried out, all teams operated as usual, moving back into Niensi and to Rungwa and they have been circulating between all seven of the blocks up to date. The Mbeya Regional Authorities have once again upheld their promise not to issue any timber licenses in hunting areas in Rungwa. This helps us enormously and stops the felling of trees for six months of the year which can only be good for the wildlife. Unfortunately, there is still poaching of meat happening in the Piti Open Area. This area is flanked by villages with growing populations and although we work with three of them already, we suspect that it is people from the further away villages who are responsible. This year we are starting to work with Majojoro village which in the past has been both a source and a harbour for poachers. We hope this will start to alleviate the problem. In Makao, we were threatened for a while by the start up of the charcoal industry. We talked to the the District Natural Resources Officer who promised that he would look into the situation before issuing any licenses. He has since come back to us and said that he will not be licensing any charcoal burning groups in this area, which is an enormous relief for us. The Makao anti-poaching team have been operating for most of this year without a Field Officer or vehicle. They have done remarkably well carrying out foot patrols from camp, or making use of Robin Hurt Safaris vehicle when possible. Although there have been incidents of poaching in the area, the full time presence of the camp and anti-poaching team, combined with the support of all the villages in the Open Area seem to greatly reduce setting of snares and illegal hunting. Having spent time in the Burko area at the beginning of the year, during the last few months we have hardly operated in this area as the vehicles have been in use elsewhere. Unfortunately we didn’t get enough funds fior a fourth anti-poaching team. Since the start of the season there has been zebra poaching for skins in the area. Although we have notified the District Game Officer on several occasions and assisted with a vehicle and support, we have not managed to catch the people responsible. The villages in the area are fully behind us and we are going to provide one village chairman with a mobile phone so that he can inform us if they see anybody poaching. We’ll keep trying! We have the assistance of the RAMSAR Convention on the protection of Wetlands in the Ugalla River areas of Niensi and Luganzo. They have halted the spread of cultivation in the area, especially close to the river. We have been battling against unsustainable farming practices for the last few years, as it has been very damaging to this fragile ecosystem. We hope to continue working alongside them for the protection of this area. Some simple pie charts have been produced from our anti-poaching reports by Tamar Losleben, a student from Rice University in Texas, who worked as an intern with us for two months. Art Auction Put a note in your diary that the third silent art auction to benefit the Cullman and Hurt Community Wildlife Project is to be held on Thursday 6th February in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History in New YorK. Thanks After the last newsletter we disovered we had genies. All we had to do was to wish and they commanded. Thank you to Mr and Mrs Towle for giving us much needed equipment such as portable tents, rucsacs, radios, torches and binoculars, and for putting up with us trying to ship it all over here. Thanks too to Alick Roberts for giving us binoculars. In all these years we have done without these luxuries, so hopefully things will start to improve! The anti-poaching teams are delighted. Leopard Project Arturo has returned to Tanzania to complete his research on leopard populations in the miombo woodlands of Rungwa. He has new collars this year, an improved version of the prototype from 2001, which are much smaller and stonger. Arturo hopes to trap and collar 7 leopards, and to leave the collars on to collect more data on their movements. This will complement his data from last year and give some more conclusive results. Once again Arturo has been provided with a vehicle, accomodation and support from Robin Hurt Safaris (Tz) Ltd/CHCWP and has also been assisted by Mr Bailleres, Mr Eduardo Bazques-Arroyo and Mr Gabriel Bazques-Arroyo from Mexico. Communities This year we have 26 communities working with the project. We made some changes last year opting to support villages on the boundaries of the protected areas rather than others that were far from the wildlife. Elly Mamuya will be going down to Mlele this month to start up the projects in five new villages bordering the Rukwa-Lukwati Game Reserve. We have already started up the project for this year in Rungwa, and seen that the work has been completed from 2001. Kambi Katoto are to rehabilitate the old classrooms at their Primary School, Rungwa have to finish the teachers house and will then begin another, and Biti Manyanga have to finish the midwife’s house and will then start to build a village office. Majojoro, which has joined us this year want to build a teachers house. We have plans from the Sikonge District Council and will start in September. In Maswa Makao, Iramba Ndogo has sent a letter to say that they have given people notice to move out of areas that are too close to the wildlife and to people who are being environmentally destructive. This co-operation from them is extremely encouraging and we hope to start implementing their projects in September. In August we spend two weeks in the Niensi Luganzo villages, working with them on their projects for this year. We hope to be able to put in a water pump in Usinga village, who saved funds from last year so that they would have enough money to complete the work. We will also spend time talking to the people involved in the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands to find out what plans they have with regard to the villages close to the waters edge, and towards cultivation in the area. It is important that we work together with them and combine our efforts in the protection of the area. In Burko, we are as usual in constant communication with the villages, who are using their funds for a wide range of projects from teachers houses to digging out dams that have filled up with silt. The Mbaash Primary School, our biggest project of last year, will be opened in September. The village built the school using funds from wildlife and the Government did the roofing and finishing. CHCWP Chairman: Joseph F Cullman 3rd. Vice Chairman: Robin Hurt. 2nd Vice Chairman: Terry Matthews. 3rd Vice Chairman: Kay Delaney-Bring. Honorary Director: Mr. Charles Mdoe, Department of Wildlife Trustees: Adam Hill, Robert Wood Johnson IV, Hargy E. Kimei, Costa Mlay, John Jackson III Project Director: Sally Capper Field Officers: John Ngalasoni, Elly Mamuya, and John Magembe Contributions If you would like to support this project, all contributions can be sent to: Conservation Force, One Lakeway Centre, 3900 N. Causeway Blvd, Suite 1045, Metairie, LA 70002-1746, USA 501 ( c ) 3 tax exemption ID no. is 72-11364493 Hibernia National Bank, 3050 Severn Avenue, Metairie, LA 70002, USA ID No: 065000-090; Acct. Name: Conservation Force/Cullman-Hurt Project; Acct No: 8006397434 CHCWP, P.O. Box 8325, Arusha, Tanzania, Email: enquiries@cullmanandhurt.org

Introduction Strategic Aims Village Benefits Anti-Poaching Support and Donations
Video Education, Village Projects and Data Collection Newsletters Contact Details Home