Enforcing the law following the recent activities of restructuring , the optimization of operations is yielding results. In the last few months, poaching has recorded many defeats with several arrests and seizures. The new approach aimed at optimizing patrol operations, placing each ranger within a section they can best serve in.
Maximizing on the new structure, a rotation system was introduced in September this year providing a permanent presence of rangers in strategic zones of the park. There is at least one section patrolling the park every day. Before a patrol unit is due to return to a station, another section is sent out, hence creating an overlap ground presence leaving no window of opportunity to illegal activities.
The new approach has proven itself to be an excellent deterrent to poaching by increasing the possibility for arrest and seizers. Poachers are exercising caution knowing they cannot enter the park unnoticed. Only in September and October, over nine poachers have been arrested, height 12-gauge shotguns were seized and over 30 snares were dismantled. Poachers’ operational approaches may attempt to adapt, by the commitment and continuous innovative strategies adopted by the park will more likely stand in their way.
Security is one of the three main operational pillars at the UNP. It aims at protecting the park, its wildlife and the people working to restore it. For instance, on the plateau of Lusinga, a behavioral change has been observed in the zebra population that seem to feel safer, allowing humans to get closer to their grazing area.
It will also help other department, like biomonitoring, to carry out their operations with no fear of encountering poachers in the UNP. Additionally, the security alert in Lusinga has gone from orange, to yellow and currently standing at green, far away from the red.
