Orphaned rhino poached at safe haven

MBOMBELA – A three-year-old baby rhino still on the road to recovery after its mother was poached, was shot in cold blood and hacked to pieces at the safe haven it was kept at this weekend.

Founder of Care for Wild Africa, Ms Petronel Nieuwoudt, is devastated. It was a shocking scene when they discovered the rhino still in its boma. Not only had the animal’s horns been hacked off, but its front legs had also been severed, probably for muti purposes.

It is suspected that the poachers struck between 02:00 and 04:00 on Friday. Employees of the rehabilitation centre made the gruesome discovery later that morning. The calf was kept in a boma separately from the other orphaned rhino.

It was initially brought to Care for Wild Africa as it had suffered a bullet wound to the buttocks. Its mother was poached in a private game reserve and the calf was wounded in the process. Nieuwoudt on enquiry said that the remaining animals are doing well and that the centre will continue fighting the good fight.

Since the beginning of the year 37 rhino have been poached in private reserves in Mpumlanga. Poachers have been relentless since last week with incidents taking place across the province. The full-moon period is always a challenging time.

In a separate incident, residents and holidaygoers in Marloth Park witnessed a heart-wrenching scene on Friday as a white rhino calf wouldn’t leave its dead mother’s side. This was within good sight from Marloth on Kruger National Park’s (KNP) side. The calf had to be darted and was airlifted by KNP officials while they were looking on. What made it even more tragic and infuriating, was that the cow was seemingly shot for no reason as it wasn’t dehorned.

Ms Elmarie Vorster, resident in Henk van Rooyen Park in Marloth and owner of Serene Oasis restaurant, said that they had heard shots at about midnight on Friday. Their fears that rhino might have been poached rang true when they saw the cow’s carcass across the river on Kruger’s side the following morning. White rhino are very territorial and a specific group can always be found in the same area. “The mother and calf were always accompanied by a bull. We didn’t see it on Friday morning and suspect it fled when the shots were fired,” she said.

Ms Sasha Botha, a Mbombela resident who stayed in Marloth Park over the weekend, said it was absolutely heartbreaking to see. “That calf would not leave its mother.” Vorster added that news of the sighting spread very quickly and tourists flocked to Henk Van Rooyen Park to witness the incident first-hand. At about 15:00, the calf was darted from the air and airlifted.

“It took about 20 minutes for it to finally succumb to the effects of the dart,” Botha said. “It put up a brave fight and didn’t leave its mother’s side even after it was darted.” Vorster added that both the cow’s horns were then removed. “We heard that the animal had been shot three times,” she said.

The carcas was removed by a truck on Saturday, probably for the purposes of performing a post-mortem, out of the view of tourists. The calf, estimated to be about a year old, was taken to a Care for Wild. Niewoudt also received a black rhino calf of about five months old the same day, of which the mother had also been poached in Kruger.

Lowvelder was told that the mother was hit on her spine and although paralysed, was dehorned while still being alive.
Vorster, other conservation bodies and individuals are offering a reward of R29 000 for anyone with information that could lead to the arrest and successful prosecution of the people who shot the rhino cow on Friday morning. Vorster can be reached on 076-727-7554.

Meanwhile, SANParks and conservation groups are waiting with baited breath as the minister of environmental affairs, Ms Edna Molewa, will announce today if SANParks will move a large number of its rhino to a safer location.
She will address media in Pretoria today on the outcome of the 2013 rhino census conducted in Kruger, as well as interventions employed by the country to curb poaching.

Cabinet was briefed on the outcome of the census on August 6 and recommended strategic interventions to secure the rhino population, were then approved.