SA, Mozambique team nab poachers
It started late at night‚ when rangers heard the crackle of gunfire shatter the peace of the Kruger National Park.
It took until after sunrise before the ensuing drama ended‚ following a gruelling 60km hotpursuit operation deep into Mozambican territory.
Two more rhinos lay dead‚ with parts of their faces hacked off – the latest casualties in the rhino wars that have claimed more than 7‚000 rhinos and an undisclosed number of people over the past decade.
But this time‚ the killers did not slip quietly into the night across an international border.
The poachers‚ both believed to be Mozambicans‚ were arrested at the weekend after a collaborative operation between rangers from Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park and Kruger National Park.
According to the Peace Parks Foundation‚ which is working with Mozambique’s ANAC conservation agency to support wildlife protection in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area‚ SA rangers heard the gunshots late at night and used a new digital radio network to alert their Mozambican counterparts.
A ranger team from the closest Limpopo National Park field ranger post was alerted to meet up with counterparts from Kruger and soon found the carcasses of two white rhinos at the border.
“The team detected tracks leading further into the Limpopo National Park and went on a hot pursuit that led them over 60km through the park,” a Peace Parks Foundation spokesperson said.
“The rangers were able to track and anticipate what the poachers’ next moves would most likely be.
“Ambushes were set up along key exit routes‚ while the trackers were pursuing the poachers from behind.
“A suspect with two sets of rhino horns was detained.
“This led to the apprehension of his partner‚ who was carrying the rifle allegedly used to kill the rhinos.”
The foundation said recent anti-poaching operations within the Limpopo National Park‚ supported by a helicopter sponsored by the Dyck Advisory Group and the Geos Foundation‚ had yielded significant results in disrupting poaching.
Last week‚ for example‚ three suspected poachers fled from the vicinity of the Kruger National Park border after they were tracked for nearly 20km.
“The suspects scattered‚ but left behind their valuable kit‚ including their firearm.”
The foundation said it had recently mobilised an extra $4.5m (R70m) to bolster antipoaching efforts in the park‚ over and above the $1m (R15.5m) already allocated to the development and operations of the Limpopo park for the period 2014-2018.
The funds were raised from the Dutch and Swedish Postcode lotteries‚ KfW‚ the French Development Agency‚ MozBio‚ and private donors. –