After fencing the Akagera National Park, for the first time in Rwanda the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) will accept for the people who want to keep wild animals and to bring animals that were rare in Rwandan national parks.

The fact that Akagera National Park is small compared to the animals that live in it and what to feed them caused many problems in the past like animals escaping from the park and destroying people’s crops and even killing people, Télésphore Ngoga who is in charge of National Parks in RDB.

Ngoga went on to say that this problem is being fixed by fencing this national park and they will remain with only the animals that they can take care of and which will not destroy people’s crops or kill them.

Ngoga said that after fencing this national park, local people might get the authority to own some of the wild animals that used to be in this park. “If a person can pay to watch impala in the park, why can’t a person have a zoo of his/her own and see them instead of finding them in the park? Like in other countries where a person can have their parks with animals like antelopes, buffaloes, crocodiles and they are used to make a living.

Apart from giving local people authority to own animals, many other animal species will be brought to Rwanda like lions, rhinoceros and others. For this to be possible, people have to first accept and show willingness to rear wild animals and the government to make laws that will guide the process.