ARUSHA, Tanzania, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania is striving to contain retaliatory killings in protected areas following reports of nine lions killed in Nyichoka village, close to the Serengeti National Park in the north, a senior official said Wednesday.
Gaudence Milanzi, Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Natural Resources, said in an interview that apart from putting in place a national task force on anti-poaching, the government will also embark on educating the public on the importance of conserving the wildlife and its natural habitat.
The East African nation's move came after the recent poisoning of nine lions at Nyichoka Village.
Milanzi acknowledged that such killings that stem from human-wildlife conflicts were on the rise, calling for urgent interventions in rescuing the situation.
"There is a need of raising more awareness against such killings as it is always the endangered species that become victims of such attacks," the official said, observing that curbing such conflicts was still a challenge as most of the incidents occurred in open areas.
"They don't happen in national parks, they happen in open areas and this makes it difficult for the wildlife rangers to monitor the animals as they can not be everywhere at the same time," he said.
He said it was equally important for the people living near the protected areas to acknowledge the importance of wildlife economically and ecologically.
On Tuesday, Hamis Kigwangalla, Tanzania's Natural Resources and Tourism Minister, condemned the killings.
It was reported that the lions were poisoned to death and some were found with their legs, tails severed by unknown people.
This is not the first time such endangered species have fallen prey to retaliatory killings.
In February , six lions and 74 vultures were found dead near Ruaha national park after they were poisoned to death.
Officials with the ministry said the way the animals were killed suggested they had been poisoned by local herdsmen amid an escalating human-wildlife conflict in the country.
Tanzania's tourism sector, which depends heavily on wildlife safari, is the biggest foreign exchange earner, but there are growing clashes between wildlife populations, farmers, and livestock keepers.