The Department of National Parks and Wildlife says it is yet to make headway in its recently launched campaign of warning people against eating bushmeat.

The campaign, which was launched in March this year, aims at cautioning people against the trade and consumption of bushmeat saying that it is illegal, dangerous and carries diseases.

Director for the Department Brighton Kumchedwa told YFM that the department is scheduled to embark on an assessment to find out if the Campaign has been effective ever since it was launched.

“When COVID-19 is declared no longer a threat, then we will carry out a proper assessment that is comparing in terms of poaching levels particularly for game meat for the period of the COVID compared with the previous years and that would give us an indication on whether there has been some compliance,” said Kumchedwa.

Kumchedwa has also revealed that the assessment will be conducted in all the country`s parks.

“It will be in all our parks but we cannot determine very much like when because it will depend when this pandemic will be declared no longer a threat but should it persist, then as we produce our quarterly or annual reports we should be able to analyse the impact,” said Kumchedwa.

Experts warned that the risks posed to humans by animal-borne diseases are likely to become more significant in the future, as climate change and globalisation affect the interaction between people and animals.

Another study found that almost 40% of people in the country are engaged in the consumption of bushmeat.