Seven poachers arrested in Tanzania's wildlife protected area

Tanzanian game rangers on Friday arrested seven poachers and seized a truck full of timber and logs in a wildlife protected area during an operation.

Omari Tofiki, Chairman of Wami-Mbiki Wildlife Management Area, said the area has become an epicenter of poachers, illegal timber and logging businesses.

The Wami-Mbiki Wildlife Management Area covers part of Bagamoyo District in Coast Region and Mvomero District in Morogoro Region.

Tofiki added that poaching has of late become frequent, threatening the survival of wildlife and forest in the area.

"We decided to conduct this special operation to protect the area from poaching and abuse of natural resources," said Tofiki.

He said in order to save the area, the government has to provide financial support and vehicles for patrols in the management area.

"We fail to do regular patrols because we don't have vehicles to cover all the area,"said Tofiki.

He said the area cannot sustain itself due to poor supervision of resources done by previous leaders. Endit