Rhino poaching
SA saw 29% drop in rhino poaching in 2021 but more than 450 rhinos killed - dept
The Environmental Affairs Department on Tuesday said that this was a 24% drop in rhino poaching compared to 2019.
The 46-year-old suspect spent the Christmas long weekend in custody and is expected to make his first appearance on Tuesday for contravening the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act.
A 46-year-old man arrested in connection with a consignment of rhino horn at OR Tambo International Airport will appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
Hawks officials and members of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment were summoned on Thursday when a security officer operating scanners at the airport flagged a suspicious parcel.
They were caught with unlicensed firearms and ammunition by field rangers on Wednesday night.
This follows the release of a report last week by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and Environment confirming that seven rhino had been killed in the park recently.
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The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment raised concern following an uptick in attacks in four provinces.
Since the first of December, seven rhino carcasses have been found in the Kruger National Park. Seven others have been discovered in Mpumalanga, while there were six in KwaZulu-Natal and four in the Western Cape.
An investigation is underway after four rhinos were killed and another wounded at a private game reserve just outside Cape Town.
A R100,000 reward has been offered to catch those responsible.
Poachers killed at least 249 rhinos in South Africa during the first six months of the year -- 83 more than in the first half of 2020.
Shangani Mathebula, Emmanuel Mdhluli and Walter Hendrik Mangane were arrested in 2017 for killing three rhinos in Marula, in the south section of the Kruger National Park.
The bulk of the slaughter happened at the Kruger National Park where 132 rhinos were killed.
Rangers on routine patrol spotted three poachers who ran into the elephant herd while trying to flee.
The court, which boasts a 100 % rhino poaching conviction rate, had not been operating for over a year due to a legal battle waged by the Mpumalanga Regional Court’s president, Naomi Engelbrecht, who sought to have it closed and its cases transferred to the Mhala Court.
The suspicious shipment - destined for Malaysia - was noticed during searches conducted by the customs unit.
In 2020, the Kruger National Park recorded 1,573 poaching incidents, a decrease of nearly 22% compared to 2019.
The rhino’s carcass was found by a farmworker who was patrolling the area on Friday.