Dar Es Salaam- -Poaching though poses a major threat to the existence of elephants in Tanzania; jumbos are fighting against many other wars mostly compounded by climate change which is silently rocking the resource-richest East African country.
Various measures the government has been taking against the vice notwithstanding, Selous, one of the worldโs largest game reserves, lost 90 per cent of its jumbos to poachers in the last 40 years.
The 50,000 square-kilometre Selous Game Reserve straddling Tanzaniaโs southern regions of Coast, Lindi, Morogoro, Mtwara and Ruvuma boasted accommodating over 110,000 elephants then, but is now a deserted home to only about 13,000 remaining jumbos.
Thanks to a syndicate comprising renowned tycoons from some developed countries and local politicians for denying the national coffers $6 million revenue the Tanzania taxman used to collect from the heritage site declared by UNESCO in 2014.
If their appetite continues unabated, elephants will be wiped out in Selous Game Reserve in seven years, the Worldwide Wildlife Fund (WWF) reveals in one of its latest reports.