Rabat, Morocco (TMT)- The Moroccan Association for Human Rights set off alarm bells vis-à-vis the critical situation Morocco’s engendered Dorcas Gazelle go through in Sidi chiker’s national park, Youssoufia, stating that their numbers have decreased tremendously in recent years, to reach a mere 250.
Members of the association conducted a field visit to said national park, including conducting an investigation, and interviewing the local population, on the increasingly decreasing numbers of the Dorcas gazelle.
The association found out, despite the Dorcas Gazelle protected status under Moroccan law, that a local mafia specializes in hunting them at night time to sell their meat to fancy Marrakesh-based hotels.
The Association said in a communiqué that the Moroccan authorities are to blame for the current situation, stressing that “nonchalance, systematic neglect and destruction of the national park’s green space has resulted in the shrinking number of the Dorcas Gazelle.”
Among others, the association said that the national park has many holes in its rickety fences.
“Mafia members sneak inside easily to steal wood, cuts trees, hunt the Dorcas gazelle without any difficulty.
“There are too many holes that anyone could get inside the national park without any difficulty,” the association said.
The Moroccan Times.
