Annual Marches to save Elephants, Pangolin and More really work! This year the Ugandan march will be in Bwambara town near Queen Elizabeth National Park on the 13th of April 2019.
The goal is to raise awareness about poaching, trophy hunting, environmental degradation and dealing in wildlife body parts, all problems in this area.
I
n a seemingly obscure village north of Bwindi National Park an unassuming young man is making a remarkable difference for wildlife. His name is Moses Arineitwe.
We met up with Moses two years ago. He took us around his village to see what he was helping the reformed poachers do. From bee keeping to Tilapia fish farming. Then we sat under an old blue tarp listening to their stories. Hearing how they’d spent years poaching with snares, spears and sticks to kill small duiker to large elephants.
Five years ago Moses decided to organize a March to Save Elephants. At that time villagers were killing any elephant that came near their crops. Poaching of the highly endangered pangolin was also rampant and Moses wanted to change the tide.
It’s working. Moses now has groups of reformed poachers making a living farming. He also has a wide array of informants who text him when a poacher is offering a pangolin for sale. To date Moses has been able to rescue 13 of these odd little critters from the wildlife trafficking syndicates. Yes, it takes guts to do that!
Right now Moses is gearing up for the fifth March to Save Wildlife… it’s expanded from elephants to include rhino, pangolin and all animals, birds and reptiles.
Challenges and Hopes
As he is gearing up for this year’s march this coming April I asked him a few questions:
1) What is your biggest challenge to hold such a march?
Transportation and feeding the marchers.
In a poor country like Uganda people don’t have money to get involved no matter how much they’d like to. So providing them with transportation and a meal is not only expected, but necessary.
2) What is your biggest hope for this march?
To gather 500 people in a new area near Queen Elizabeth National Park and raise awareness to stop the killing of wildlife.
In rural areas around the National Parks in most parts of Africa poaching is commonplace. Wild animals are seen as food and/or a means to make money. To change his tradition it takes more than education, it takes providing an alternative livelihood options. This is exactly why Moses is seeing success. He does both.
3) What is the biggest success you’ve seen over the years with these marches?
Poacher reform. More help in rescuing pangolin.
Results
To actually get poachers to turn in their snare wire and spears for a shovel and opportunity to farm. Now that’s success. We met a dozen of them two years ago. Moses tells me the number has doubled.
Also, Moses says a huge result has been the rescue of the highly endangered pangolin. These rescues from the wildlife trafficking industry would never have happened without his ever increasing network of informants.
How you can help
As you can imagine organizing such a march is a costly venture for Moses. He estimates this year it will cost about $1,920.00.
Every penny counts. Give what you can.
100% of your gift will be sent to Moses to make this march a reality.
Save these beautiful creatures!
Moses really does some terrific work doing just that.