Premier appoints task team

IT was a blood day at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park yesterday with the discovery of six rhino carcasses with their horns hacked off.

Three were found after gunshots were heard the previous night. One was freshly killed while two are believed to have been poached earlier in the week.

While in the field, rangers discovered two more carcasses thought to be four days old and at a separate site, one rhino was killed but its horn was still intact.

This brings the total number of rhino poached in the province to 113 this year.

Due to the “alarming escalation” of rhino poaching in the province, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive Council appointed an anti-rhino poaching task team. This was announced by the Office of the Premier yesterday.

The task team will conduct a full assessment of the current measures and capacities of the anti-rhino poaching initiatives in the province.

It will comprise representatives from KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife, police, the Office of the Premier, an international policing expert and a legal expert from the Ian Player Foundation.

Their work will include conducting an assessment of the criminal justice processes in relation to the poaching incidents at all levels and also evaluate if the provincial human and logistical resources are sufficient to turn the tide against rhino poaching.

The task team is expected to compile a report with recommendations to the Provincial Executive Council within six months.