Gaaga Bus Company has been fined US$500 (about sh1.3m) by Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) after one of its buses knocked dead a Uganda Kob. The company’s buses mainly ply the Kampala-Arua route. The Kob appears on the country’s court of arms (right) to represent the east African nation’s abundant wildlife. En route to Kampala from Paidha, the bus registered under number UAM 724T and driven by Kassim Abugu hit the animal within Murchison Falls National Game Park mid week. The warden in charge of Karuma Wildlife Reserve, Everline Byamukama, said it did not stop at hitting the graceful Kob. After knocking it dead, it was butchered and packed in a boot of the bus, Byamukama said, who added that they had to stop the vehicle in its tracks upon learning of the news. “We checked it [bus] and found the meat in the boot. “These people broke the Wildlife Act 74 Section 30 Chapter 200 of 2000 which prohibits the act of killing and being in possession of game meat,” she said. She warned drivers against speed driving especially while in the game park, saying it should be 40km/hr. Also, the UWA official told drivers to dim their vehicle headlamps when they see animals on the road so that they can walk away safely. Murchison Falls National Park area manager Tom Obong ruled out claims that the incident was accidental, saying it could have been intentional instead. “The driver cannot blame this on an accident because after knocking it he stopped and they slaughtered the animal and packed it in the boot,” he reasoned. “They should have left it there and reported the incident to the nearest police station.” The Ugandan Kob is a subspecies of the kob, a type of antelope found in sub-Saharan Africa in Uganda, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia. Along with the crested crane, it is considered a very important symbol of Uganda. Obong sounded a warning against targeting game animals while making it clear that the Wednesday incident attracted a sh1.3m fine at the cost of the company on top of a charge of illegal possession of game meat.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 09:11:30 +0000
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