Fatal attack on KNP staffer clouds World Ranger Day

It used to be creatures with teeth and poisonous plants SANParks rangers had to watch out for but now, their most dangerous foes are human predators armed with rifles and a shopping list for environmental contraband.

This point was made during the celebration of World Ranger Day at the Darlington Dam section of Addo National Park in the Eastern Cape yesterday.

The event was tinged with sombreness as speakers, including Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs Barbara Thomson, remembered SANParks field ranger Respect Mathebula, who was gunned down in Kruger National Park last week.

Mathebula and his colleagues made contact with a group of poachers they had been tracking near Crocodile Bridge with the dog unit. Shots were exchanged and Mathebula was seriously wounded in the upper body.

A doctor was flown in to stabilise him, but he died from his injuries on the way to the hospital. One poacher was arrested.

Mathebula was the first SANParks ranger in more than 50 years to be killed by poachers.

“When we think of rangers, we usually picture a person patrolling the veld as they monitor and protect our wildlife,” Thomson said.

But words such as “battle”, frontline” and “war” were now commonly used in relation to poaching.

According to Camdeboo National Park manager Nick van der Walt, rangers these days have to have a very different mindset.

“It is war out there. Rangers today are trained in strategy, managing crime scenes and the technology used at these scenes.

“It’s a very different world to when we used to deal with wire traps or theft of wood.”

The SANParks dog unit, air and marine wings are also fighting environmental crime.

More than 870 rangers have been killed in the line of duty since 2009, according to the International Ranger Federation. Of this number, 410 were killed in Asia and 327 were killed in Africa.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

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