Tanzania launches new anti-poaching awareness campaign

The Tanzanian government has launched a new public awareness campaign to inform the public about the severe poaching crisis currently in the east African nation.

The campaign was launched on Thursday by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, in association with international NGOs WildAid and the African Wildlife Foundation, and Tanzanian award-winning singer Alikiba.

The campaign was also aimed at generating widespread support among civil society for the protection of elephants and other wildlife species.

"Elephants are at the top of the 'wish list' for many tourists who come to this country, and tourism generates over 17 percent of our GDP," said Lazaro Nyalandu, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism.

The campaign will use television, radio, social media, newspapers and magazines, billboards and videos in public spaces in order to reach as many members of the public as possible, including the residents of remote rural villages.

"I'm honored to lend any support that I can to this effort to protect our wildlife," said Alikiba who became an ambassador for the campaign.

"Our beautiful elephants must be allowed to live free and wild instead of ending up as a carving on somebody's coffee table," he said.

Tanzania has always been known for its large elephant herds and, together with Botswana and Zimbabwe, is home to half of all of Africa's elephants, said Patrick Bergin, CEO of the African Wildlife Foundation.

Tanzania has lost 60 percent of its elephants in the past six years, mainly because of poaching for ivory.