Elephant Management and Poaching in South Africa

[H. erectus]

My apology, wrong thread but quite relevant!!!

[Richprins]

Good question, H.!


It is difficult to compare Kruger ellie poaching with that of decades ago. Then it was less organised by far, with AK-47s and old rifles used a lot. Also little if any staff involvement. No cellphones, fence well-maintained, no distraction re. rhino poaching...

And fewer nearby Chinese.

[Flutterby]

Kruger elephant poaching incident is not ‘the first in more than ten years’

Published: 23 May 2014
Researched by Julian Rademeyer

Has South Africa’s Kruger National Park lost only one elephant to poachers “in well over ten years”, as claimed in a recent SANParks press release? The claim is incorrect.

South Africa’s parks authority, SANParks, recently announced that the country’s Kruger National Park had suffered its “first confirmed elephant poaching incident…in well over ten years”.

News of the incident, which occurred in Pafuri in the northern part of the park, spread quickly. “South Africa loses first elephant,” read an article on the National Geographic website. South Africa’s News24 site took a similar line with the headline: “First Kruger elephant poached in ten years”. Bloomberg News was a little more circumspect, reporting: “South Africa says first Kruger elephant poached in ten years”.

So how true is the claim? A reader asked us to investigate.

‘Greatest crisis in decades’ for Africa’s elephants

A government ivory stockpile in Zimbabwe: Photo: AFP/Desmond KwandeWhile South Africa has certainly been at the centre of Africa’s rhino poaching crisis – with 2,829 rhino reportedly killed by poachers there since 2010 – its elephant populations have escaped largely unscathed.

Elsewhere on the continent, the picture is bleak. Since 2011, when elephant poaching hit the highest levels on record in ten years, the slaughter has continued unabated. Now, between 25,000 and 35,000 elephants are reportedly being killed in Africa every year for their tusks. To the east of the Kruger Park – in Mozambique – thousands of elephants have been poached.

Africa’s elephants are facing their “greatest crisis in decades”, according to an inter-agency “rapid response assessment” published last year.

So is it possible that the Kruger National Park has lost only one elephant to poachers in “well over ten years”?

Data records other poaching incidents

Data collected as part of the MIKE programme – which was established under the auspices of the international Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to monitor the illegal killing of elephants – suggests otherwise. A recent MIKE report indicates that poachers killed a total of at least three elephants in Kruger during the course of 2007, 2009 and 2011. (Note: The Kruger data appears on the second last page of the report. The number of elephants killed illegally is expressed as a percentage of the total number of elephant carcasses discovered.)

There are also anecdotal reports of Kruger elephants being killed after crossing the border into Mozambique.

Kruger elephant ‘targeted for its ivory’

A SANParks ranger takes part in a night patrol exercise in the Kruger National Park. Photo: AFP/Stephane de SakutinKen Maggs, the head of SANParks’s environmental crime investigations unit, confirmed to Africa Check this week that the MIKE data was “correct apart from 2011 where we have two [incidents] recorded”.

“All these animals were indeed poached… but according to evidence found at these scenes were not, we believe, purposely killed for the ivory but rather accidently or rather opportunistically killed by snares set by snare poachers targeting other larger ‘bush meat’ animals like buffalo, hippo.

“The recent Pafuri elephant was however believed to have been the first elephant in many years that was targeted for its ivory, possibly when the poaching group, looking for rhino, failed to locate a rhino and shot the elephant before departing the park,” Maggs said.

Conclusion – The claim is incorrect

The claim in the SANParks media release that the recent incident in the Kruger National Park is the “first confirmed elephant poaching incident…in well over ten years” is incorrect. Other elephants have fallen prey to poachers in recent years. And while those killings may have been “opportunistic” or “accidental”, they are still classed as “illegal killings” or poachings.

According to Maggs, the most recent incident differs from the others in that the evidence clearly indicates the animal was “purposely killed” for its tusks. That is certainly alarming and calls into question the wisdom of environment minister Edna Molewa’s controversial claim that, “We did an ivory once-off sale and elephant poaching has not been a problem since.”

SANParks should have explained the context of the recent incident in their press release and announced that – for the first time in many years – they had discovered the carcass of an elephant that appeared to have been targeted for its tusks. And media organisations should have checked the SANParks press release against the available data before reporting it as fact.

Edited by Peter Cunliffe-Jones

[Toko]

Pafuri elephant not first poached, says Africa Check

While at least three elephant had been killed in 2007, 2009 and 2011 respectively, SANParks said the one killed in last month’s incident was the only one to have its tusks removed.
Susanna Oosthuizen | 4 June 2014 12:05

MBOMBELA – SANParks’ claim that the elephant recently poached for its tusks near Pafuri was the first in 10 years, is incorrect, Africa Check stated last week.
According to Mr Julian Rademeyer who heads this non-profit organisation that tests claims made by public figures on the continent, at least three elephant had in fact been poached in 2007, 2009 and 2011 respectively.
Mr Isaac Phaahla of SANParks responded that its claim pertained to elephant killed specifically for its tusks. The incidents referred to by Africa Check are of animals that were killed as a result of wire snares. Their tusks had not been removed.

[Toko]

Elephant Poachers Penetrate South African Borders Again

July 30, 2014

A second elephant has been butchered for its tusks by poachers in Parfuri, northern Kruger National Park (KNP), 10km in from the Mozambican and Zimbabwean borders. SANParks officials discovered the 2 day old carcass with its tusks hacked out on Tuesday morning. No further details regarding the age or sex of the elephant were available and no suspects have as yet been arrested in connection with the crime.

This is the second incident of elephant poaching in the Parfuri region of Kruger in recent months, highlighting the onslaught of elephant poaching predicted by conservationists, who have warned that rampant poaching in neighbouring countries would begin to spill over South African borders. Conservationists are calling for heightened action by government to step up protection measures and find solutions to a crisis that seems to be not only looming, but already unfolding.

“Elephant poaching has been happening for a while now in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, so we did expect that it would at some stage reach our area,” said SANparks spokesperson William Mabasa.

The Parfuri region of KNP is particularly vulnerable to penetration by poachers because of its proximity to both the Mozambican and Zimbabwean border. This makes it a prime target for criminal syndicates operating on the other side of these borders, and a sitting duck for corrupt customs and parks officials.

[Flutterby]

[nan]

[Richprins]

a sitting duck for corrupt customs and parks officials

That border post is a joke!!!!

[H. erectus]

That border post is a joke!!!!

Well,...call it the highway too heaven for some users,..

[Mel]

Horrible and frightening news.