LIMPOPO – According to Vlakte Plaas (an area around Shingwedzi Rest Camp) Sectional Ranger, Thomas Ramabulani, who spoke to CV on the scene of a dead elephant during a media tour organised by the park, 30 elephants have already been killed this year compared to 22 last year.
“Twelve of these elephants have been poached here in Vlakte Plaas, a clear indication that this kind of poaching is rife on the northern part of Kruger National Park compared to other areas of the park,” he said.
According to him, the suspects involved in the recent elephant carcass were from the side of Limpopo National Park on the Mozambican side of the park.
“We followed the tracks of three to four people from the scene going back that side,” explained Ramabulani, appealing to the community surrounding the park to help combat poaching.
“As you can see, most of the workers in the park come from the surrounding communities, so if the community let our main big five get wiped out before their faces, many people will lose their jobs.
“One live elephant has the potential to attract more tourists who channel in more money that feeds us all as opposed to the dead one which only feeds those who killed it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ike Phaahla, the SANParks Spokesperson, said ways were being explored to get the community involved in the fight against poaching.
“We have recently undergone a park management review where we explored strategies to inform the community about the importance of contributing to the fight against poaching in the park,” he added.
“They told us their frustrations as well, one of which is unemployment, which makes it easier for poachers to recruit the youth.
“We’re still analysing the information that we have so that we can come up with a better way to involve the community to help us in the fight,” he said.
Asked if the cooperation between Kruger National Park and Limpopo National Park on the Mozambican side was going well, Phaahla said despite there being more elephant poachers from that side, the cooperation between the two parks yields good results.
“We share intelligence information which more often than not leads to arrests being made in the struggle against poaching,” Phaahla said.
