‘Poachers’ caught on bloody Sunday
THREE RHINOS KILLED IN KRUGER
Three alleged poachers appeared in Skukuza Regional Court yesterday accused of killing three rhinos on a particularly bloody Sunday in Kruger National Park last weekend.
According to SANParks environmental crime investigator Frikkie Rossouw, a ranger detail was patrolling in the area when they heard shots being fired.
The rangers began moving in the direction of the shots and, while doing so, heard another two sets of shots being fired.
When the rangers came across a freshly dehorned carcass, tracker dog Cleo was deployed and led the team to a second dehorned rhino.
Cleo didn’t stop, however, and it was at the third carcass the three suspects were arrested before they could dehorn it.
Inside the cordoned off area, a team of SAPS forensic and SANParks environmental crime investigation specialists conducted a post-mortem on the rhino while rangers kept a sharp eye for lion they had chased off the carcass earlier.
The specialists also gathered DNA samples in order to tie the horns found with the suspects to their original owner.
With an expended .375 calibre cartridge found on the scene being the same calibre as the rifle found with the suspects, all investigators needed was the projectile.
Normally, it’s a messy business while officials butcher the carcass. However, this time the lions did the job for them by ripping the neck open and dropping the bullet on the ground, where it was easily recovered.
In court, the alleged poachers – South Africans Emmanuel Mdhluli and Walter Hendrik Mlangani, together with Mozambican Xongani Mathebula – were remanded in custody until Monday for further investigation.
With more people than ever being arrested outside the park and more South Africans being arrested for poaching inside the park, it’s clear there is only so much SANParks can do without turning Kruger – and all the other parks hard hit by poaching – into military bases.
Nor can the parks’ management step outside its boundaries.
It’s for this reason Kruger management is looking to traditional leaders to step in, hence their presence at the fetid carcass on a gloomy Monday. “I am so saddened and worried. People are so cruel to do this to our animals,” sad Chief Mathebela Mokoena.
He noted the poachers were coming from within the community. “If we can be brave enough to expose those people, we can root these elements out.” –
I am so saddened and worried.