Poacher Loses Fingers Through Poaching

Animal poaching does not only pose a risk to wildlife but also poses a risk to the poachers themselves. Many Poachers have been jailed for illegal poaching while others have been killed by wild animals. Some poachers have encountered regrettable accidents that have left permanent marks on their bodies. Ziko is a transformed hunter who had his fingers chopped off by his muzzle loading gun while poaching in the Lunga Busanga Game Management Area.

Ziko Konikemba 35, lives in Kasempa Chiefdom, Village Ntulukila, Kasempa CRB in Kamfuwe Village Area Group (VAG). He comes from a household of six members of which he is the bread winner. He stopped school in grade nine due to lack of financial support. Konikembe started poaching in 1983 after his uncle taught him how to hunt so that he could sustain his livelihood.

Konikemba revealed that he got involved in poaching because he had no source of income to buy food for his family. He said he had farm land which was left for him by his uncle but this land was unproductive, so he had to find an alternative source of food. He disclosed that when he started poaching, he used to kill about ten hartebeests and two buffaloes in a month. Konikemba explained that after killing animals, he either exchanged the meat with other food stuff or sold the meat.

He said he went poaching at least two to three times in a month using a firearm that was given to him by his grandparents. “In the year 2000, I managed to kill two elephants but unfortunately I only realised K400, 000 (about100 dollars) from the two elephants that I killed. I spent this money buying food at home and before I realised it, the money was finished,” complained Konikemba.

Konikemba disclosed that on October 14^th 2005, he went hunting in Lunga Busanga with four of his friends; Bethy Kiswapako, Wado Kiswapako, Bonny Kiswapako and Alex Kiswapako. Upon arriving in Ngumbo area, Konikemba said they decided to camp and started looking for animals in that area. “We spent two days in the bush without coming across any animals until the third day, October 18^th 2005, when we came across Buffalo tracks and started tracking them,” disclosed Konokemba. He said after tracking the animals for a short distance, they managed to find Buffaloes in Ngumbo Plain in Lunga Busanga Game Management Area.

“I fired my muzzle loading gun towards the Buffaloes and one Buffalo dropped but didn’t die on the spot. Realising that the animal did not die, I quickly got another muzzle loading gun from my friend Wado and followed the buffalo at close range in an effort to kill it. I fired a shot and the gun exploded in my hands chopping off three of my fingers on my left hand. Surprisingly the Buffalo died on the spot despite the gun exploding,” he said.

Amid pain and excitement, Konikemba said he ran towards the Buffalo he shot dead whilst shouting for help until he collapsed. He revealed that his friends came to aid and put him on a bicycle so that they could take him home. However, before they could start off, they agreed that two of his friends should take him home while the other two remain drying the meat. “We started going home which was 55 km from Lunga Busanga Game Management Area and arrived home late in the night around 22:00hours.”

He was taken to Kamakechi clinic for treatment but, unknowingly he found himself in Mukinge Mission Hospital in Kasempa. While at Mukinge Mission Hospital, he revealed that he was charged more than K300, 000 (about 80 dollars) for his medication, which was more than what he could afford. However, Konikemba said with the help of his uncle Welingtone Kikwanda who worked for the Safari Company; he managed to clear off his medical bills.

He said after he was discharged from hospital, he waited for his friends to bring the money realised from the Buffalo he killed but unfortunately, his friends never brought the money. He disclosed that this frustrated him to the point that he never wanted to go back to poaching. “I stayed at home for one year without poaching,” said Konikemba. However, due to lack of food and income, Konikemba was forced to seek employment. “I tried to look for employment at African Experience Lodge and Pro-Hunt Safaris in Lunga Luswishi Game Management Area but I was not offered a job,” lamented Konikembe.

Frustrations from job hunting coupled with lack of food and income forced Konikemba to resume his poaching activities and in less than a month of his poaching, the muzzle that he was using exploded again but this time did not injure his body.

Realising that he needed to find less harmful means of sustaining his family, he went to his uncle to request for a licensed shot gun so that he could continue with his poaching activities. His uncle gave him a gun which he only used for a short period. He lamented that his uncle got his gun from him on reasons that he did not want to risk losing it. “I stayed home again wondering what to do to maintain my life until one day my friend invited me for a meeting,” recalled Konikemba.

He said on June 7^th 2007 he attended a meeting in Kamfuwe VAG which was organised by the VAG Co-ordinator Mr. Harrison Kabelenga. At the meeting, villagers discussed the Poacher Transformation Programme (PTP) under Wildlife Conservation Society. He revealed that he listened to the discussion attentively through to the end of the meeting and was impressed with their deliberations. Konikembe said he voluntarily surrendered his muzzle loading gun to WCS so that he be could trained in alternative livelihood skills.

Ziko Konikemba was among the 31 poachers that were trained in alternative livelihood skills such as bee-keeping, farming and carpentry by WCS in the recent PTP in Kasempa district.