Five-year-old pregnant rhino shot dead in nature reserve

POACHERS shot dead a pregnant rhino and hacked off her horn in a nature reserve outside Komani this week.

Hein Gerber, manager of the Lawrence de Lange Nature Reserve, said yesterday the fiveyearfemale white rhino was due to calve in two to three weeks time.

“One rhino is bad enough. We were very shocked and it is a great loss. But with her being pregnant in fact we have lost two animals.”

Initial investigations show the poachers used a .375 calibre hunting rifle to shoot the animal before chopping off its horn with an axe either late on Christmas night or before dawn on Boxing Day, he said.

The carcass was found 60-70m from the reserve’s southern fenceline, which runs along Olivier Road, near the cemetery.

The access point through the fence had not yet been pinpointed but it was clear that the poachers got into the reserve and did not shoot the animal from the road, he said.

The 1200ha reserve was proclaimed in 1982 and named after local commonage ranger Lawrence de Lange, who led the team that did the fencing and game introduction.

Today, it is owned by the Enoch Mgijima Municipality and part of the year it is closed for hunting.

When it opens to the public the rhinos and giraffe are particular attractions, Gerber said.

Locals visit to use the picnic site and tourists and visiting families flock in during holidays.

It is patrolled every night by a local corps of honorary rangers but it was not surprising that they did not spot the poachers, he said. “This was not local people who did this. This was a professional job.”

Police spokeswoman Captain Namhla Mdleleni confirmed the incident and said a case of “illegal hunting” was being investigated.

Provincial Green Scorpions chief Div de Villiers said a member of his team had been assigned to assist police on the matter.