It is wrong for UWA to export wildlife

SIR— The Uganda Wildlife Authority’s (UWA) decision to authorise the export of a quarter of a million birds and animals in 2002 has shocked anddismayed nature lovers, tourists and scientists around the world. As a conservation group, we would like to congratulate Dr. Wolfgang Thome, president of the Ugandan Tourism Association (UTA), on his most admirable stand against the UWA and its exploitation of the prize jewel in the nation’s natural heritage. Undoubtedly, the capture of, and trade in, Ugandan (and neighbouring countries’) wildlife is already having a detrimental effect on the country’s image abroad and may well have consequences for the country’s economy. In this official United Nations Year of Ecotourism, such an attitude is embarrassing and politically and environmentally short-sighted. The days of hunting tourism, and further decimation of our shrinking planetary resources, are numbered. The slogan “take only photographs,leave only footprints,” should be on the letterhead of every forward-thinking tourist agency. Keep Birds Free, an arm of the highly respected conservation group Proact International, will shortly be launching a campaign to highlight the plight of, particularly, the trade in Ugandan birds. We further call on all conservationists in Uganda and the entire East African region to support our aims of getting the UWA’s decision rescinded and a total ban imposed on all exports of wild-caught avifauna.Ian Hinzekbf@proactnow.org