* Animals said illegally smuggled to Qatar in 2010
* Tourism is country's second-biggest forex earner
DAR ES SALAAM, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Tanzania has sacked the
most senior official responsible for managing its wildlife and
two others over the illegal export of more than 100 live animals
and birds from the east African nation's game parks, local media
reported on Tuesday.
In a case likely to damage Tanzania's reputation for looking
after its exotic wildlife - a lucrative draw for tourists -
Obeid Mbangwa, the director of wildlife, and two subordinates
have been accused of involvement in the smuggling of animals to
Qatar in a military plane in November 2010.
"They have already been served with letters of dismissal,"
state-run Daily News quoted the country's Natural Resources and
Tourism Minister Hamisi Kagasheki as telling a news conference
in Tanzania's political capital, Dodoma.
The minister, who was not available for comment later, said
a criminal investigation was underway.
"The investigating team will travel to Qatar and ...
question the pilots involved, ascertain the legality of permits
used and physically see the animals that were smuggled out of
the country," the minister said.
Tanzania's sweeping savanna plains in the shadow of Mount
Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, teem with wildlife, drawing
tourists who pay hundreds of dollars a night to stay in luxury
tented camps.
Its tourism sector earned $1.471 billion in the year to
June, making it the second biggest source of foreign currency
after gold.
Members of parliament last year accused senior wildlife
officials of smuggling giraffes, impalas, gazelles, hornbills,
vultures and other rare wildlife out of the country.
More than 130 animals and birds were smuggled out of an
airport in the north of the country where there are several
national parks.
Like other countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania has
seen a rise in poaching in recent years with criminals killing
elephants and rhinos for their tusks which are used for
ornaments and in some medicines, mostly in Asia.
(Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Editing by Richard Lough
and Andrew Osborn)