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A Question of Game or Cattle? The Fight against Trypanosomiasis in Southern Rhodesia (1898–1914)

After the rinderpest outbreak of 1896, wide areas of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) were denuded of cattle. The disease also affected some species of wild animals, killing large numbers of them. As the game disappeared and areas of tsetse infestation reduced, so cattle could be introduced into districts where they were previously absent for fear of fly-transmitted trypanosomiasis. Yet when rinderpest was eradicated and game numbers recovered, tsetse also re-emerged, threatening – at least in the minds of farmers and officials – the expansion of the livestock industry. This article revisits debates prior to the First World War between the Administration, local settlers and conservationist lobbies over how to deal with tsetse and trypanosomiasis. Conflicting opinions were expressed regarding the degree of tsetse fly expansion and whether or not a direct link between game and tsetse existed. In the end, the official view gave priority to ranching interests and tended to support the need to exterminate wild animals in order to eliminate the fly. But this policy did not eliminate the wish to preserve the country's fauna and not all of the government's scientists were persuaded of the efficiency of game exterminations. A conflicting combination of measures both protecting game and authorising free shootings was the result.