Big loss as over 10 crested cranes are poisoned to death in Lwengo

LWENGO – The environmental police in the Greater Masaka region are hunting for farmers who allegedly poisoned 11 crested cranes to death in Kikonge village, Kkingo Subcounty in Lwengo district.

The police and officials from the International Cranes Foundation were shocked today morning when they found the crested cranes lying dead in a wetland after they were allegedly poisoned by the rice and maize growers.

The International Crane Foundation regional manager in Masaka, Dr. Adalbert Ainomuchunguzi said Lwengo district had about 1,359 crested cranes living in the wetlands that have been encroached on by the farmers.

The grey crowned crane is the national bird of Uganda and features in the country’s flag and coat of arms.

Ainomuchunguzi said the population number of crested cranes in Masaka area is declining because of the increasing encroachment on the wetlands which are habitats for the treasured birds.

The crested cranes are protected under Uganda Wildlife Act, 2019 but farmers who illegally cultivate in the wetlands continue to kill the treasured birds, accusing them of feeding on the crops, especially rice.

In 2021, the International Cranes Foundation launched a campaign in the Masaka region aimed at saving the crested cranes. The cranes largely breed in the wetlands but growers of rice, and maize have continued to trap, and use chemicals to kill the birds, as well as destroy their eggs.

However, Ainomuchunguzi warned that any person who hunts, traps, kills, sells, or even buys the cranes commits an offence and he or she is liable to life imprisonment or paying a fine of Shs 20 billion upon conviction in the courts of law.

John Namuyimba, a local leader on the council executive of Nkoni parish blamed the farmers for killing the cranes, warning that leaders would soon launch an operation to evict all the encroachers in the wetlands which are habitats for the long-legged birds.

Masaka regional environmental police commander, Taban Chiliga said they hunting for the culprits who killed the cranes and that they would be charged under Wildlife Act, 2019.

According to statistics from Nature Uganda and the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife and Antiquities, only 10,000 to 20,000 grey-crowned crested cranes are left in Uganda compared with an estimated 100,000 four decades ago.

https://thecooperator.news/mak-conducts-research-to-move-rice-farmers-from-wetlands/

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