Sharp rise in rhino poacher arrests
Two shot dead on moonlit night in Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park as alert rangers lay in wait for criminals
MORE than 70 poachers have been arrested so far this year, at least 31 more than in the same period last year. This is according to Musa Mntambo, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife communications manager, after two poachers were killed on Sunday in a firefight with rangers at the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park.
Mntambo said: “Being a full moon, Ezemvelo rangers were on high alert as incursions often increase during the full moon. Rangers patrolling the Nqolothi section heard some voices nearby.
“They waited until they could see about five poachers, with one carrying a hunting rifle. They switched on their torches and instructed the poachers to stop and put down the gun.
“A poacher pointed a gun towards the field rangers, but the rangers fired first and two poachers were killed.”
During the commotion, three alleged poachers fled. They were pursued by the SAPS K9 Unit.
“It is further alleged that the two poachers who were killed were working together with three poaching suspects who were arrested in a joint operation between SAPS Rhino 8 and Ezemvelo rangers on Saturday morning near Hluhluwe town. During this operation, a .458 hunting rifle with nine rounds of ammunition was recovered,” Mntambo said.
This comes as the Cape Argus’s sister newspaper, the Daily News, reported last week that six rhinos were killed in one night at the game reserve, which left Ezemvelo devastated.
The total number poached so far this year was 142, said Mntambo.
Meanwhile, the carcass of one of Rietvlei Nature Reserve’s oldest residents, a rhino affectionately know as Ma Koei, was discovered on Friday.
It is believed the female rhino, believed to be more than 40 years old, had been shot dead three to four days earlier.
An official said it appeared the poachers had been unaware that the rhino had been dehorned.
In May last year, Rietvlei was closed to the public after the slaughter and dehorning of two rhino by poachers, one of which was pregnant at the time.
In October 2013, five poachers were arrested as they were about to enter the reserve. Three years before that, two rhinos were killed by poachers.
Meanwhile, police in northern Vietnam have seized nearly three tons of ivory smuggled from South Africa in the latest action taken against the illegal trade.
Thanh Hoa provincial police said the ivory was found in a truck stopped by officers early on Saturday. The account posted on the police website quoted the truck driver as saying he had been hired to transport the ivory from southern Dong Nai province to the capital, Hanoi.
Police declined to give further information.
Last year, nearly seven tons of ivory were seized in Vietnam’s southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh city.
Vietnam is one of the world’s major transit points and a consumer of ivory and rhino horn. It has banned the hunting of its own dwindling population of elephants.