Elephant poaching rises in Kruger National Park
ELEPHANT poaching had increased from 22 in 2016 to 30 in 2017 in the Kruger National Park, the South African National Parks (SANParks) said on Monday .
“These people came in and shot it, their tracks lead to Mozambique,” SANParks spokesperson Ike Phaahla said while at a crime scene of an elephant that was poached about three weeks ago at the park.
On arrival at the scene, the elephant was lying on its side with its face hacked off and spine cut open.
“A census will be done in September to determine how many elephants we have in the park.”
Once the elephant is shot, the spine is cut to ensure that it is dead while they remove the tusks.
Phaahla said a SANParks management review had been done, where communities were visited to discuss the issues they had with poaching and what assistance was needed by the residents to prevent them from being involved in poaching syndicates.
“They told us youth unemployment made it easy for syndicates to make it into the park.
“We are still analysing the information we have to help with decreasing the number of animals poached,” he said.
After a lengthy search inside the elephant carcass, the forensic team identified a rib that had been shattered by a bullet.
“The bullet hit the rib and possibly went into a lung,” said a member of the forensic team.
Phaahla said despite the increase in elephant poaching they were pleased rhino poaching had decreased by 34% (from 354 in 2016, to 243 in 2017) and that inside the park 90 poachers had been arrested.
“We educate each other, communities are telling us things we did not know that are a challenge to them,” he said.
“Programmes have been developed and there is a relationship between the park and the communities, we need them to tell us what they need.” – ANA