Tanzania: Healers Cleared to Own Govt Wildlife Trophies

What the report says

Tanzania’s wildlife authority says it is implementing President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s directive allowing traditional healers to legally own certain government trophies used in their practices, according to the Daily News report carried by AllAfrica. The announcement was made in Mwanza by TAWA conservation officer Omary Mhando during the Farmers’ Day, or Nane Nane, celebrations and agricultural exhibitions at Nyamhongolo grounds in Ilemela Municipality.

Mhando said the request came from traditional healers during Bulabo cultural celebrations of the Sukuma community, where they asked for permission to possess items such as wildebeest tails, lion fat and other wildlife products. He said some healers had inherited such items from their ancestors but had faced arrest in the past for keeping them without legal authorization. The report says the approval is being presented as the first such allowance since Tanzania’s independence in 1961.

The article also says Samia approved a special government trophy shop in Mwanza City, while a wildlife meat shop has already opened in Arusha. Mhando explained that wildlife resources are treated as public property under Tanzania’s conservation law, and that transfers of trophy ownership require a formal application and payment of fees.

More broadly, the report frames the move as part of TAWA’s effort to create economic opportunities linked to wildlife resources while still operating within conservation rules. The policy could affect traditional healers, wildlife regulators and local trade in animal products, although the article does not indicate how broadly the new permissions will be applied or when individual applications will begin.