The City is said to be the leading town for illegal and abusive sale of wildlife products commonly called “Bush Meat”. For the past years, the government of Cameroon has been putting up strategies and bodies to combat the illegal killing of protected wildlife in the country. Yet poaching is still rife in the North West Region as some people in the rural and even urban areas from this part of the country derive their livelihood from the activity. In Bamenda, there are countless restaurants specialized in the sale of all types of “Bush Meat” and the demand is high. One still sees buses illegally transporting wild life products at times with the complicity of some unscrupulous MINFOF staff and the forces of law and order.

Against this backdrop, the regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife recently organized a meeting with stake holders and members of the regional committee for the fight against poaching. The seminar president at by the Economic Adviser to the governor’s office, Ngwana Donatien looked at solutions to the problem and identified restaurant dealing in Bush meat. It was also to call recalcitrant staff to order as well as plead for more collaboration from customs officers and the forces of law and order.

In his opening speech, the Economic Adviser to the governor’s office said the government will spare no effort to bring culprits to book. He said the regional committee for the fight against poaching must ensure the sensitization of the public on the conservation of biodiversity and the negative consequences of poaching, define measures geared towards the consolidation of forestry policies that protect wild life as well as the programming of actions to mobilize means to fight against poaching. Ngwana Donatien equally warned unscrupulous staff who help poachers to extinct protected wildlife and cautioned them to desist from such practices as the law will spare no body.

Meanwhile, the Regional Delegate for Forestry and wild life for the North West, Mbongblang Joseph disclosed that he was doing his best to fight poaching in the region. He said one of his main objectives is to conserve biodiversity adding that he was out to increase and make their activities real in the field. But at times, he went on, “we have problems as people sometimes inter into reserve areas”.