Prime
Kabale bishop urges Ugandans to protect wildlife
![](/resource/blob/4666998/6e8ebc2b907c34e083c0da729d7f8826/travel02pix-data.jpg)
Elephants along the Kazinga Channel. PHOTO/MARVIN MILES MUGERWA.
What you need to know:
- Lt. Col Asiimwe Evelyn, the organizer of the Queen Elizabeth National game park drive tour, asked the government to consider extending electricity to places that are of great importance to the economic development of Uganda.
The Bishop of the Catholic diocese, Callist Rubaramira has appealed to Ugandans living near National game parks to be tolerant with wildlife inside and outside protected areas saying that they are also created by God just like humans.
Bishop Rubaramira made the appeal during a game drive tour around Queen Elizabeth National game park in Kanungu District. The drive was organized by Embogo Lodges with an intention of sensitizing local communities on the benefits of protecting wildlife.
Bishop Rubaramira said when God was creating human beings, He also created wild animals for a reason and it is because of this reason that Man should protect them since they were also part of creation.
‘’Human beings are the biggest threat to the wild animals, they kill them and that is why they are significantly decreasing in number,’’ Bishop Rubaramira said.
Bishop Rubaramira added ‘’ The wild animals we see in parks are of great importance to this country because they bring in foreign exchange so kindly protect them and see how to live with them in harmony instead of killing them."
The bishop also asked government to invest more in the tourism industry saying that a lot is still missing to have the sector fully functional.
‘’In Africa, Uganda is the country with very many tourist attractions but some of them have remained unutilized because few the few things which worked on for the betterment of the tourism industry in Uganda’’ Bishop Rubaramira added.
Bishop Rubaramira said, "I can’t fail to thank the government but that does not mean that everything is okay. Where the government has acted, we say thanks and where they have not worked, we ask them to act accordingly to the need.’’
Lt. Col Asiimwe Evelyn, the organizer of the Queen Elizabeth National game park drive tour, asked the government to consider extending electricity to places that are of great importance to the economic development of Uganda.
‘’The government is earning a lot of money from this national game park but what is hurting is the failure of the government to extend needed services to such places that bring a lot of money,‘’ Lt. Col Asiimwe said.
Lt. Col Asiimwe, an investor in Tourism also called for protection of wildlife saying that it is everyone’s responsibility to see that wild animals are protected from being killed by poachers.
‘’We must conserve these wild animals because they are also important in different ways. So let’s head in hand and we protect these creatures for the coming generations’,’ Lt. Col Asiimwe said.
Ms Lillian Kamusiime , a tour guide, said the rate of the population of wild animals in national game parks is worrying. She added that unless something is done to protect the remaining animals, the country’ tourism industry is at a risk of collapsing.
‘’Locals must learn ways of co-existing with wildlife because these animals are of great value to this country and to communities near national game parks,’’ Ms Kamusiime said.
Ms Kamusiime also asked the government to construct more tourist connecting roads saying that some tourist attractions are areas with on roads and that some of them are unknown.