From WN

Police in Tanzania said that Wayne Lotter was likely followed and targeted for his conservation work before he was shot dead on Wednesday, according to The Guardian.

Lotter was traveling in a taxi from Dar as Salaam airport to a hotel but was stopped and fatally shot after working in Tanzania for many years against the illegal ivory trade by exposing and jailing wildlife poachers and traffickers through the PAMS Foundation.

Tanzania’s director for criminal investigation, Robert Boaz, said that Lotter had received a number of death threats and that a murder investigation was underway in the early stages.

“It is too early to say anything at the moment but we suspect his killers may have been watching his movements from Arusha all the way to Dar es Salaam while he was traveling. We suspect that the killers may have probably gone as far as circulating the news of his death after they had killed him. These are some of the issues the investigation will look closely into,” said the anonymous source.

“This is a murder case, and therefore the rigorous investigation is required to identify the suspects. We would like to assure the public that the police are currently investigating the matter and we will arrest all the suspects of the incident,” Boaz said.

The acting Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone Commander, Lucas Mkondya, said that Lotter’s taxi was forced off the road by a single attacker who pulled up to block the taxi and then shot twice while demanding money.

Elisifa Ngowi, head of Tanzania’s National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit which is funded by the Pams foundation, said “Police cannot say at this stage that there is a connection between the facts and poaching. It is too early to say anything. Until we get the suspects, then it is too early to say who are they and what they were up to”.

“It’s being taken very seriously, so we are very proud of the Tanzanian government for how they have handled the investigation so far,” said Krissie Clark who co-founded the Pams Foundation with Lotter in 2009.

The South African citizen Lotter had worked in wildlife conservation for decades after being both inspired by Africa’s wildlife and appalled at the devastation that poaching was creating across the continent so he and Clark founded PAMS as a small NGO that trains wildlife rangers, sponsors education programs, while working with farmers, law enforcers, police, and more to help identify poachers and trafficking networks and prosecute them through the Tanzanian legal system.

PAMS has often been an NGO that many point to as an excellent example of how small organizations can have large impacts since they were able to spread out in Tanzania to train hundreds of wildlife rangers along with several education initiatives and wildlife clubs where poaching was commonplace.

Tributes to the conservationist have poured in from all over the world from those that have been touched by Lotter’s dedication to the elephants.

Primatologist Jane Goodall wrote, “Wayne was a hero of mine, a hero to many, someone who devoted his life to protecting Africa’s wildlife. There is no doubt in my mind that Wayne’s anti poaching efforts made a big difference in the fight to save Tanzania’s elephants from the illegal ivory trade.”

Goodall previously intervened in 2014 in Tanzania when Lotter faced opposition to his anti-poaching work after spending many years researching primates in the country, “At that time powerful vested interests were desperately trying to blacken Wayne’s name and close down the Pams Foundation.”

Lotter was “one of the conservation world’s shining lights” according to Mary Rice, the executive director of the Environmental Investigation Agency. “Pams has been central in tackling rampant poaching and illegal wildlife trade in Tanzania, to the extent that criminal networks have moved into neighboring countries to escape the increased enforcement and prosecution success that has been underpinned by the work of Wayne and his colleagues.”

Leonardo DiCaprio also paid tribute to “a true conservation hero” who “fought so hard to protect Africa’s elephants.”

The head of the African Wildlife Foundation, Kaddu Sebunya, said: “Africa has lost a great friend and champion for wildlife. Wayne was one of the true heroes of conservation in Africa. AWF worked with Wayne for many years and we are saddened by his brutal murder. Our deepest condolences to his family and the PAMS team. Such a tragic loss for the African elephant. The best tribute we can give Wayne is to continue his good work to protect our heritage as Africans.”

Clark promised that PAMS will persist with their work in Tanzania, “We will continue to fight and finish what Wayne started.”

-WN.com, Maureen Foody

For more on this story and video go to; https://article.wn.com/view/2017/08/18/AntiPoaching_Elephant_Conservationist_Found_Murdered_in_Tanz/