First Kruger elephant poached in 10 years
Published
Elephants can recognize other elephants by the smell of their urine. Elephants can recognize other elephants by the smell of their urine.
Pretoria - The SA National Parks (SANParks) has announced the first confirmed elephant poaching incident in the Kruger National Park in over 10 years.
The incident occurred in the Pafuri region, in the northern part of the park.
The commanding officer of SANParks Rangers Corp, Major-General Johan Jooste, said forensic evidence suggested that the elephant bull had been purposefully shot for its tusks, which were hacked off and carried away by suspected poachers.
Jooste said rangers patrolling the area noticed footprints of four individuals in the park and leading towards Mozambique.
“Upon further investigations, which involved backtracking, the rangers on patrol came upon the elephant carcass.”
Jooste said ballistic evidence found at the scene confirmed that the animal had been shot. An investigation was under way.
SANParks acting chief executive officer Abe Sibiya said that given the situation in the rest of the continent in relation to rampant poaching of elephants “we have known that it was a matter of time before South Africa got targeted as well”.
“Our focus has been largely on curbing rhino poaching, (but) we have also been preparing ourselves to fight the poaching of elephants. We are saddened by this incident but are confident that (we)… will eventually prevail over this malady,” Sibiya said. – Pretoria News