Rhino poaching down, elephant and pangolin in danger

RHINO poaching is on the decline‚ but other species are under threat‚ like the elephant‚ the quirky pangolin and even the rare cycad plant.

In fact‚ one Eastern Cape man seems to be a serial cycad siphoner. It appears that the perpetrator is a farmer‚ who ended up forfeiting two vehicles and part of his farm to a neighbouring national park.

These are some of the revelations made by the Department of Environmental Affairs on Monday.

The stats form part of the 2016-17 National Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Report.

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said in February that there had been a decline in the number of rhinos poached in the country.

Last year, the number of rhinos poached declined to 1 054 from 1 175 in 2015 and 1 215 in 2014‚ according to the report.

The majority of the cases last year were registered by SANParks (662)‚ then KwaZulu-Natal (162) and thirdly Limpopo (90). Other high-risk species included elephants and pangolins.

But flora are also being targeted and one case stands out – the state versus R Dicks and others.

“Theft and illegal harvesting of bakkie and trailer full laden with Longi Folius cycads‚” reads a description of the crime.

The same name pops up in another case involving a similar crime.

The sentence included a 10-year jail term‚ suspended for five, a R100 000 fine, forfeit of his bakkie‚ an R80 000 truck‚ and donating part of his farm to the Addo Elephant National Park.