MUNCIE, Ind. - Creating Africa's largest wildlife reserve may save numerous animal species and ecosystems by attracting tourists to the region, says a Ball State University biologist.

The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park includes 13,500 square miles, straddling South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. When it opens in 2003, it should change the way local residents view wildlife, said David C. LeBlanc, a biology professor.

"If this large park can be effectively managed and protected from encroachment, thousands of people would visit it each year," LeBlanc said. "It would allow local populations to make a living without converting natural habitat into subsistence farms.

"The best hope for the wildlife of Africa is to create circumstances where the local population sees living animals and intact habitats as important economic resources that are protected to maintain the local economy," he said.

The reserve combines South Africa's Kruger National Park, Mozambique's Limpopo Park and Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou National Park into a single home to wildlife including lions, rhinos and elephants.

Along with removing visa restrictions and building new transit links for tourism, the three countries have launched a drive to help wildlife spread more fully across the area.

More than 1,000 animals, including dozens of elephants, have been transferred from South Africa to Mozambique, where a long civil war took its toll on the native animal population.

LeBlanc said Kruger National Park is the best managed and best protected natural areas on the African continent. "It is so successful that some of their animal populations have grown too

large to be contained within the park," he said. “With the new Transfrontier Park, these populations of animals will be able to disperse within a larger area, reducing the need to cull herds to prevent over-grazing and habitat degradation”.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact LeBlanc at leblanc@bsu.eduor (765) 285-8832.)