US Army Trains Game Scouts To Combat Poaching

The United States Army, along with the National Guard in Tanzania, has announced that they are in the process of training 50 Tanzanian game scouts in an effort to stop wildlife poaching in the country.

The training is specifically designed to help the game scouts combat poaching and trafficking in the famous Rangwa Game Reserve – one of the biggest game reserves in Africa.

The reserve has been a target for poachers for more than a year now.

Mark Childress, the US ambassador to Tanzania, visited the reserve in 2015 when he saw the need for an improved infrastructure and proper training to assist in the combat of wildlife poaching, specifically in the reserve.

Last week, Childress attended a demonstration of field techniques being learnt by the scouts in the reserve.

A part of the embassy’s statement on the training read:

“…This training programme was initiated after Ambassador Childress visited Rungwa Park in 2015, seeing the need for capacity building and improved infrastructure to stop the alarming rates of poaching in the Game Reserve,”

Poaching has been increasing almost tenfold over the past two years in various parts of Africa.