Festive season a bloodbath for Kruger rhinos
While visitors to the Kruger Park were enjoying their peaceful festive season bush breaks, poachers were quietly mowing down rhinos within the Intensive Protection Zone.
50 mins ago
Jacqueline Herbst
One of the rescued calves drinking water. > Photo: Supplied/Care for Wild
A staggering 27% of all rhinos poached in the Kruger National Park last year is understood to have been slaughtered in December.
Three of these were slaughtered for their horns around Christmas, and another at New Year’s Eve, leaving two young calves orphaned.
While the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment will only release its official tally for 2024 and the festive period in its next biannual national statistics report in February/March, Lowvelder has reliably learnt that the Kruger had lost about 70 rhinos to poaching last year, 19 of these killed in December.
Alarmingly, all the rhinos poached in December are understood to have died inside the Kruger’s Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ) in the Malelane, Stolsnek and Skukuza sections as well as two in Mozambique on December 17. The creation of the IPZ was announced in 2014 as part of a set of strategic interventions aimed at reducing the threat to rhinos, and saw the implementation of several technologically advanced methods to assist anti-poaching teams.
Sadly, rhino poaching syndicates have found ways around these strategies over the years. A prime example is the case against the alleged rhino poaching kingpin, Joseph Nyalungu, and his co-accused, in which, according to court documents, the primary purpose of the enterprise was to smuggle rhino poachers into the Kruger using SAPS vehicles. The poachers would then illegally hunt and kill rhinos using high-calibre hunting rifles, cut off the rhino horns and be smuggled out, along with the horns, by the police officers. Afterwards, a middleman would link them up with one of two businessmen who would buy the rhino horns and pay the price agreed upon, and sell the horns on the black market. The money would be shared between the hunters, police officers and the middleman. Kruger rangers were also believed to have been paid off or threatened into co-operation.
The female calf was transported by helicopter to Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary. > Photo: Supplied/Care for Wild
While investigations into the latest slaughtering spree are ongoing, well-positioned insiders have refuted rumours of it being the work of Mozambican fugitives fleeing to South Africa as a result of the current political unrest.
While the two rhinos that fell in Mozambique may have been killed by Mozambican foot soldiers, investigators are eyeing local players, likely from the Malalane and Hazyview areas, for the bulk of these crimes.
Rhino sightings have become a rare treat in the southern Kruger. This, along with heightened security measures implemented by SANParks over the festive season, have increased the likelihood that poachers would have needed inside assistance to quickly find the rhinos and move in and out of the park with speed and stealth.
This female calf was transported by helicopter to Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary.
> Photos: Supplied/Care for Wild
The Komatipoort case that never was
On the evening of October 18, the police collared two suspected rhino poachers on the N4 near Komatipoort. This after their car’s registration number triggered the automatic number plate recognition cameras at the Lebombo Border when they crossed into South Africa. They were found in possession of rhino poaching tools, including a .375 hunting rifle, ammunition, a silencer and hunting knives.
With the suspects allegedly known to be active in rhino poaching circles in the southern Kruger, Mozambique, the Kingdom of eSwatini and northern KZN, and the timing of the arrest coinciding with a rhino falling near Komatipoort the day before and another in Mozambique around the same time, it seemed like a straightforward case. The weapons would be sent away for DNA testing and, should results be positive, hopefully lead to successful prosecution.
However, this did not happen. After spending the weekend behind bars, the case never made it onto the court roll and the suspects were sent on their merry way.
The docket also seems to have mysteriously disappeared. In response to a media enquiry, the Mpumalanga National Prosecuting Authority’s spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, told Lowvelder on Tuesday she had checked with the prosecutor in Komatipoort, but nothing regarding the case was found on the system.
One of the rescued calves transported to Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary. > Photo: Supplied/Care for Wild
Festive season orphans enjoying cool mud baths
Meanwhile, the two rhino orphans rescued in the Kruger over the festive season and taken to the Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary have settled into a crash and are forming social connections, crucial to their eventual reintroduction into the wild.
One of the calves, a female, was rescued on New Year’s Eve and taken to the sanctuary after her mother was killed on Christmas Day. A hasty search conducted by local section ranger Greg Bond and his team led them to the calf after it had already spent six traumatic days alone in the wilderness.
On Tuesday, Care for Wild’s Petronel Nieuwoudt shared some good news with Lowvelder.
“These two babies are doing very well. They have joined a crash, are eating and drinking well and love the mud bath, especially in this hot weather,” she said.
She added that they were keeping a close eye on the calves to ensure they continue to eat and drink well, and are monitoring their stress levels. Although the calves are adjusting well, they still have a long road ahead of them, as the rehabilitation and successful reintroduction of orphans into their natural ecosystem is a complex, dynamic and lengthy process.
Orphaned rhinos may suffer from distress and anxiety due to the loss of their mothers and natural social structure or the traumatic events they endured during and after the poaching events. Therefore, successful rehabilitation involves the provision of care, support and resources to not only facilitate their physical but also psychological recovery that will allow them to thrive in the wild again.
Nieuwoudt reiterated the ultimate objective is to release each rescued orphan back to a place where they will not only be healthy, but also safe from poachers.
The rescued rhino calves with their new crash at Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary. > Photo: Supplied/Care for Wild
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