Poaching has become very common in Zambia's largest national park due to a severe shortage of supervising officers. The Kafue National Park has less than 500 officials. Environmentalists say that at least 2,000 officials are needed to watch over a park spread over 24,440 square kilometres. "Kafue has been severely hit by poachers and if something is not done soon we might end up with a national park with no animals," said Gabriel Tembo, a spokesperson for the country's tourism ministry. A few months back, the staff was retrenched in the face of a severe funds constrain.
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