Lion killer won’t be punished

THE MPUMALANGA farmer who yesterday shot two of the four lions that escaped from the Kruger National Park on Sunday will not be prosecuted, authorities confirmed yesterday.

The male lions escaped from the park and were seen late on Sunday near a road a few kilometres from the park, SA National Parks’ William Mabasa said at the time.

It was not known how the lions escaped from the park, most of which is fenced.

Yesterday afternoon, it was reported that two of the lions had been shot by a farmer who found them eating his livestock.

One of the lions was killed instantly while the second one was left wounded.

Officials were then forced to put down the wounded lion and kill a third animal.

SANParks spokesperson Janine Raftopoulos said the farmer would not be charged because he acted within his rights.

“He’s basically protected because he was protecting his assets, the cattle, and he acted within his rights. So there won’t be any legal action against (him).”

She said the killing of the remaining lions came after officials were alerted to the shooting.

“Upon being informed of this, the search team on the ground as well as the SANParks chopper were dispatched to the area where we discovered the wounded lion and the third lion. The injured lion is obviously very dangerous and is very unpredictable, so the decision was taken to put it down along with the third lion.”