Forensic trailers for postmortems received in KNP
Specialised forensic trailers will make investigations into poaching incidents so much easier
SKUKUZA – The United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Environment Facility (UNEP-GEF) has donated four 4×4 forensic trailers to South African National Parks (SANParks).
It was handed over by minister Ms Edna Molewa of the Department of Environmental Affairs to the head of anti-poaching, Maj Gen (ret) Johan Jooste of the Kruger National Parks’ (KNP) anti-poaching unit.
“This mobile unit will make the post-mortems after poaching so much easier for the forensic team. To work on such a scene is very traumatic and this will just make it easier. This unit has everything they need,” he said.
“The mobile units will make crime-scene management just so much easier for the on-scene forensic investigations,” according to the park’s general manager for communications and marketing, Mr William Mabasa.
He added that KNP also enforced stricter movement control in the park. Three boom gates have been installed on access roads north of the Sabie River, designating the area as an intensive protection zone (IPZ). The boom gates will control night movement in order to minimise risk factors. These posts will be manned by rangers.
“We are continuously taking steps to increase security in the park in our quest to continue to provide security for our rhino which is severely under attack by poachers,” Mabasa reiterated. The IPZ barriers are now found on the H1-2 road north-east of the Sand River low-water bridge; on H12 on the Sabie high-level bridge, and also on the H10 between Lower Sabie and Tshokwane.
