Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has welcomed the decision by the Standards, Utilities and Wildlife Court to send two people to prison terms for hunting and killing 6 lions and ten vultures without a license.
Vincent Tumuhirwa and Robert Ariho have been sentenced today to 7 years in prison on each of the counts of entering a wildlife conservation area without permission, hunting a wild animal in a wildlife conservation area without permission, killing a wild animal in a wildlife conservation area without permission and killing protected wildlife species in a wildlife conservation area without permission.
They were also sentenced to 10 years in prison for unlawful possession of protected wildlife species. These terms will be served concurrently and will take in account 1 year and 5 months that the convicts spent on remand.
The conviction and subsequent sentencing of two criminals underscores governments commitment to fighting wildlife crime in Uganda and ensure that the wildlife is conserved for both the present and future generations.
The Executive Director Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) Sam Mwandha expressed optimism that such harsh sentences will help to minimize wildlife crime in the country.
“We should be optimistic that as people get tough sentences, others out there would fear to get involved in crime”, he said.
He added that the authority will continue to engage communities with an aim of making them appreciate the importance of conservation as criminals get arrested and prosecuted.
“We shall continue with both a soft and hard approach, we shall keep working with communities to fight wildlife crime, we shall continue sensitizing them and sharing benefits with them at the same time apprehending and prosecuting the criminals,” Mwandha said.
On March 19, 2021, six lions were found dead at Ishasha sector. 10 dead vultures were also found at the scene, which pointed to the possibility of poisoning of the lions (see related eTurboNews article ).
A combined force of UWA, UPDF and Uganda Police launched an operation that led to the arrest of Vincent Tumuhirwe and Robert Ariyo who took the security team to a location where different body parts of the lions, hunting tools and bottles containing a chemical known as Furadan were recovered. This breakthrough led to the successful prosecution of the two.
UWA has also applauded the judiciary for standing for the protection and conservation of our country’s wildlife heritage.
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