Tanzania tracking Eight herds of elephants in Meatu District via Satellite, to avert clashes with humans
An official statement from the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) reveals that the collared elephants, essentially the pack leaders, were picked from the eight herds roaming across the Meatu landscape.
Black News 
The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute has begun collaring elephants in Meatu District.
The exercise, aimed at addressing cases of Human Wildlife Conflict, involves installing the collars equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) radios to monitor the jumbo movement within and outside the wilderness expanse striding the Meatu District of Simiyu.
An official statement from the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) reveals that the collared elephants, essentially the pack leaders, were picked from the eight herds roaming across the Meatu landscape.
“We picked the leader of each of the eight elephant clusters and installed the trackers on them so that rangers can now easily detect their movements and intercept the Jumbos before they venture into human homesteads or farms and wreak havoc,” explained the Researcher and Wildlife Veterinarian, Dr Iddi Lipende.
On his part, the Meatu District Wildlife Officer (DWO), Joseph Sikawa said the villagers in his precinct can now at least heave a sigh of relief because their regular encounters with the giant mammals have been a nightmare.
“We are thus grateful to the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, as well as the government for supporting TAWIRI to implement the elephant collaring task,” said Sikawa.
According to the District Wildlife Officer, there are 12 villages that have been experiencing elephants’ menace in Meatu and these include, Mwanyahina, Mwajidalala, Mbugayabanya, Mwamashimba, Mwanzagamba, Mang’wina, Mwangudo, Mbushi, Shushumi, Mbuyuni, Sungu and Paji.
One of the villagers in Meatu, Godfrey Mabula said they used to be compelled to stay vigil in farms throughout the night, so as to protect their crops from the elephants’ intrusion, because the Jumbos are mostly nocturnal feeders.
But are the GPS collars on elephants effective?
The conservation officer from the Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (TAWA), Ayubu Fundi said the radio equipped gadgets were more than effective, as they not only help rangers to drive back the elephants into reserves, but also assist in learning the Jumbos’ patterns of movement.
“Rangers manning all the Problem Animal Control (PAC) centers will be alerted in time, which means it doesn’t matter from which part the elephants are coming from, the patrols in the location will be ready,” said Fundi.
Rich in biodiversity, the Meatu District Council is also a hotspot for a considerable elephant population being located at the nucleus point connecting important conservancies in the Northern Tanzania circuit.
Some of the protected areas bordering Meatu include; Maswa Game Reserve (MGR), Southern precincts of the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), Mwiba Wildlife Ranch and Makao Wildlife Management Area (WMA).
Experts reveal that 75 percent of the elephants roaming range in Meatu district, lies totally outside the protected area boundaries, thus human-elephant encounters are frequently experienced.
It is being reported that more often the Jumbos’ home range overlaps with farms and homesteads belonging to local villages, forcing the elephants to frequently share land resources and interact with rural communities.
Elephants usually cause damage to properties, kill and wound people while competing for water and forage with humans.
On the other hand, people hunt and kill elephants for their ivory, meat or in some cases self defense or retaliation precisely when the jumbos kill residents or destroy farm crops and other property.
