Rhino poachers now hack off lions’ faces

Rhino poaching gangs appear to have added a new and grisly commodity to their illegal wildlife shopping lists – hackedoff faces and feet of wild lions.

A new study suggests a trend is emerging among poachers along the Mozambique-SA border in which lions are killed for their body parts, notably teeth and claws.

Writing in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, researchers Kristoffer Everatt, Rae Kokeš and Carlos Lopez Pereira warn that at least two recent shipments of lion teeth and claws poached in Mozambique were destined for Vietnam, while Chinese tourists were reportedly fuelling a similar demand in Kenya.

The study says the first cases of “harvesting” lion heads, faces and paws near the SA-Mozambique border emerged in 2014 and in all subsequent targeted lion poaching cases in the Limpopo National Park these body parts had been removed.

“This increase in the removal of heads or faces and paws from lions in and around Limpopo National Park, along with confiscations of lions’ teeth and claws at the Mozambique airport, indicates a recent demand specifically for lion canine teeth and claws.”

In all lion poaching cases in which only teeth and claws were taken, the poachers were working on foot.

“It is likely that poachers’ selection for teeth and claws over removing full skeletons is a way of optimising their return while reducing costs. It is possible established rhino and elephant poaching syndicates and traders already operating have simply added lion parts to their list of illegal wildlife products.

“This hypothesis is supported by interactions we documented between lion and elephant poaching which included the use of poached elephants as bait to kill lions and a seized shipment of a mix of elephant ivory with numerous lion teeth and claws destined for Vietnam.”

Everatt acknowledges that while the study is based on a limited number of poaching cases adjoining the Kruger National Park, he believes the sudden trend should be reported in light of the “devastating impact it could have on other lion populations across Africa”.

“We strongly recommend that African governments, protected area managers, conservation organisations, researchers and the global conservation community be vigilant and quick acting towards addressing this emergent and serious threat to wild African lions, and other big cats.”

The study draws a potential link between the latest trend in teeth and claws and SA’s increasing role in exporting lion bones to the Far East.

Pretoria judge Jody Kollapen has ruled SA’s lion bone export quotas for 2017 and 2018 were unlawful.

This increase in the removal of heads or faces and paws from lions in and around Limpopo National Park ... indicates a recent demand specifically for lion canine teeth and claws