Rhino poachers shift focus from Kruger to KZN

DURBAN: Rhino poaching gangs from Mozambique appear to be shifting some of their attention from the Kruger National Park to KwaZulu-Natal.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has confirmed that at least seven rhinos have been shot and dehorned over the past few weeks, with five killed in the Tembe Elephant Park, which lies on the province’s northern borderline with Mozambique.

Ezemvelo spokesman Musa Mntambo confirmed that the carcasses of four dehorned white rhino had been found in Tembe this week.

The body of another white rhino had been found in Tembe about 10 days ago, while one black and one white rhino had been shot in the flagship Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

Ezemvelo chief executive Bandile Mkhize was scheduled to meet rhino security officials to review the latest deaths.

“We suspect that poachers may be moving their attention from Kruger to our northern reserves in KZN,” Mntambo said.

The government in Maputo, meanwhile, is under growing pressure to clamp down harder on Mozambican citizens implicated in rhino and elephant killings. According to the Traffic wildlife crime monitoring group, Mozambique is under pressure internationally to amend its wildlife laws to make the killing of rhino and elephants a criminal offence rather than a misdemeanour, and also to impose harsher penalties on Mozambicans convicted of wildlife crimes.

The WWF wildlife conservation group said Mozambique

More than 1 000 park rangers have paid the ultimate price over the last 10 years

came under strong world pressure in March at the annual meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) and was required to submit a full report to Cites before January on what actions it had taken to beef up security and control the illicit movement of rhino horns and elephant tusks through its territory and ports.

The group estimates that at least 2 500 elephants have been killed in Mozambique over the past four years.

“Recent data indicates that about three elephants are killed every day,” WWF said.

The latest rhino poaching statistics issued by the Department of Environmental Affairs suggest that at least 536 rhinos have been killed for their horns in South Africa this year.

Of these, 334 were poached in Kruger. A further 56 died in Limpopo, 55 in North West and 47 in KZN.

Game rangers across Africa paid tribute on Wednesday to colleagues killed or injured while trying to protect the continent’s increasingly threatened wildlife heritage.

Marking World Ranger Day, the Game Rangers Association of Africa said at least 41 rangers had been killed in the line of duty in various parts of Africa over the past year.

It urged people to join it in “saluting these brave men and women who have paid the ultimate price for conservation”.

Dr Ian Player, the association’s patron, said wildlife conservation had been described by an old colleague as the most noble cause in the world.

“I agree wholeheartedly. They are the thin green line protecting the wild areas of our planet,” he said.

Recent casualties in South Africa have included Mulalo Nemakhavhani, a ranger who was killed while protecting rhinos in Limpopo.

Kruger Park section ranger Andrew Desmet was shot and seriously injured earlier this year, apparently by mistake, during a joint anti-poaching operation with the SANDF.

World Ranger Day is an annual event initiated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Prince William, the duke of Cambridge, has also paid tribute to the “brave and tireless work” of people on the front line of wildlife conservation.

“More than 1 000 park rangers have paid the ultimate price over the last 10 years. The staggering sacrifice that you and your colleagues have made underlines just how dangerous, and how critical, your work is,” he said.