Lions take care of rhino-poaching group

Sometime after the sun set Sunday, a group of men entered a South African reserve carrying a highpowered rifle, a silencer, an ax and a wire cutter — tools poachers use to shoot and kill rhinos before sawing off horns, according to Nick Fox, the owner of Sibuya Game Reserve.

At least one man never made it out.

Early the next morning, an anti-poaching dog on patrol started barking, and its handler heard a “loud commotion coming from the lions,” Fox told HeraldLive.

The men apparently were attacked by the big cats. Fox told Newsweek that a skull was later found in the area, as well as “one bit of pelvis,” but that “everything else was completely gone.” He was uncertain how many people were killed by the lions but Fox said that three sets of shoes and gloves were left behind.

Fox said Friday that tools found at the scene were a “surefire sign” that the men were poachers. He added that the ax, which is the “quickest way to hack off the horns,” had traces of blood on it from another kill. The men had enough supplies to last several days, indicating they planned to set up camp in the bush and track the rhinos, Fox said in a phone interview with The Washington Post.

“We’re pretty convinced they are rhino poachers,” he said.

A police spokeswoman, Capt. Mali Govender, said investigators recovered remains from the reserve and that they have been sent for forensic testing, according to HeraldLive.

After the discovery, Fox said in a statement that six lions believed to have been involved in the deadly encounter were “darted,” or given anesthesia via a tranquilizer gun, so that authorities could investigate the scene; at that time, the lions were assessed by veterinarians and conservation workers, who determined their behavior toward the crew in a gameviewing vehicle “appeared no different from that exhibited toward these vehicles over the last 10 years.”

Sibuya Game Reserve, near the popular tourist destination of Cape Town, is one of those open for safaris on the Eastern Cape. From the ocean to the bush, Sibuya’s wildlife spans from birds to Africa’s “big-five game” — lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and Cape buffaloes.

South Africa, home to the largest population of the world’s 30,000 rhinos, has seen a rise in poaching, Susie Ellis, executive director of the International Rhino Foundation, told the Post. “Numbers have gone from fewer than 10 in 2007 to well over 1,000 in the past few years,” she said.

According to Ellis, poachers are members of well-organized criminal networks driven by a demand from the Asian market. They view rhino horn, which is worth more than gold or platinum, as a valuable commodity, like elephant ivory or drugs.

“It’s not a crime of poverty,” she said. “It’s a crime of greed.”

Rhino poaching carries a jail sentence in South Africa. Still, in 2017 alone, more than 1,000 adult rhinos were slaughtered.

Fox, the reserve owner, said veterinarians and conservationists are focusing on protecting the rhinos. After the human remains were found, he said, workers checked on the rhinos and “we’re thankful they’re all safe at the moment.”