DAR ES SALAAM, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism is in the process of recruiting 600 games rangers that will help in controlling destructive wild animals, a senior official told parliament on Tuesday.
Mary Masanja, the Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, told the House in the capital Dodoma that the game rangers will help control wild animals that stray from protected areas to villages and destroy farm crops.
Masanja said in addition to the recruitment of the 600 game rangers, wildlife authorities are training villagers on how to protect themselves in case of raids by the wild animals.
"The authorities have already conducted such training in 17 districts in the country," she said in response to Minza Mjika, a Member of Parliament for women special seats.
Mjika had asked the deputy minister to explain measures being taken by the government in controlling human-wildlife conflicts in villages located close to protected areas.
Statistics by the Wildlife Department in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism show that 1,069 people were killed from wild animals attacks between 2012 and 2019. ■