By Staff Reporter
Harare — A Kwekwe farmer who discovered a live pangolin on his property drove 215 kilometres to Harare to personally hand it over to President Emmerson Mnangagwa — a well-intentioned move that could easily have put him behind bars.
John Mapurazi placed the endangered animal in his vehicle and passed through several police checkpoints on his way to State House.
Had he been stopped, he would have faced a mandatory minimum sentence of nine years for possessing a pangolin, as stipulated under the Parks and Wildlife Act, which strictly prohibits the hunting, capture or possession of specially protected species.
Mapurazi, however, encountered no trouble.
State House officials listened to his story and granted him an audience with the president, who subsequently handed the pangolin to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
Unintentionally, Mapurazi may also have created a new — and risky — excuse for future poachers: “I’m taking it to the president.”
Zimbabwe’s pangolin population remains unknown, but the species is classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and enjoys the highest level of legal protection in the country.
Current wildlife laws impose a mandatory nine-year prison term for capturing, harming, selling or possessing a pangolin — penalties conservationists say are necessary, even though public awareness remains low.
Parks officials maintain that the safest and most responsible way to protect pangolins is straightforward: admire them from a distance and leave them where you find them.
