21 wild dogs poisoned
The poisoning of 21 endangered African wild dogs near Nxaraga has ignited fierce debate, with MP Caterpillar Hikuama arguing responsibility lies not only with suspected perpetrators but also with government neglect of communities coexisting with wildlife.
Hikuama refused to treat the incident as an isolated crime, but a 'direct outcome of a failed human-wildlife conflict management framework' that systematically pushes local pastoralists to the breaking point.
'Farmers in the Okavango periphery are systematically pushed to the wall,' Hikuama declared. 'When a farmer loses their hard-earned cattle or goats, their sole source of family livelihood, and calls for help, only to be met with silence or bureaucratic delays, desperate and unlawful measures often follow.'
The scale of the crisis has been mounting for years. Between 2020 and 2025, Botswana recorded an average of 9 349 human-wildlife conflict incidents annually, with over 46 000 incidents. The Department of Wildlife and National Parks has paid out P100 million in compensation over the past four years, yet farmers frequently complain the process is too slow and the rates too low.
Hikuama outlined three core failures driving the crisis, beginning with a severely under-resourced wildlife response.
According to the MP, DWNP officers are 'crippled by inadequate operational transport,' leading to slow response times when farmers report predatory threats.
He also condemned what he called 'insultingly low' compensation payouts that are completely disconnected from market realities, with farmers often waiting months or even years for meagre reimbursement.
Furthermore, he accused the government of abandoning proactive boundary monitoring, leaving small-scale farmers to defend their livelihoods against apex predators with virtually no state support. While Hikuama condemned the use of chemical poisons, which threaten cattle, water sources, scavengers, and human health, he argued that arrests alone cannot solve the problem.
'We cannot simply arrest our way out of human-wilderness conflict while leaving the structural causes untouched,' he said.
The MP demanded immediate interventions, including an emergency allocation of terrain-capable vehicles for Maun and Okavango DWNP stations to shorten response times. He called for an urgent overhaul of compensation
rates to match current commercial livestock market values, with payouts delivered within 14 days of verification.
He also proposed funded, community-led rapid response teams equipped with non-lethal deterrent tools such as lights, predator-proof kraals, and tracking alerts to protect both livestock and endangered wildlife.
Community-led initiatives like the 'Herding for Health' programme are already being implemented in the Nxaraga area through the Xuduisela Conservancy. The model, supported by Conservation International, uses professional eco-rangers to implement planned grazing, improving livestock quality while reducing wildlife conflicts. But Hikuama insisted that the government must do more, arguing that 'true conservation cannot succeed against the people—it must succeed with the people.'
The MP also questioned why millions are allocated to high-level tourism marketing while regional wildlife stations in Ngamiland lack fuel and vehicles for routine patrols. His comments came as the Ministry of Environment and
Tourism faces budget cuts, with its development budget reduced from P533.7 million to P270.3 million in the 2024-25 financial year.
'The government must stop managing conservation through press releases and address the ground reality,' Hikuama said.