UPDATE: SANParks’ latest comment on impala video
A video of men loading the animal onto a taxi, went viral on Tuesday.
June 22, 2019
Arisa Janse van Rensburg
The Kruger National Park’s (KNP) response to a video of an impala carcass being loaded into the back of a taxi, has caused an uproar among enthusiasts of the park.
In a video that SANParks released on Wednesday, veterinary wildlife services operations coordinator, Noah Konaite, said the men in the video were in fact KNP officials.
“The guys ran out of food so I gave them permission to go to Acornhoek to go and buy some. On their way back, they found an impala carcass on the road. They were told that the impala had been hit by a car,” Konaite said.
He said the men loaded the carcass and took it to the Satara section ranger.
“We did not do a post-mortem on it, but according to what they observed, the animal had been hit by a car and was long dead,” Konaite said. Isaac Phaahla, KNP spokesman, did not answer the questions posted by Lowvelder and said the video and statement that they made on Tuesday are their official comments on the matter.
The statement on Tuesday reiterated that the men are SANParks employees and that it is “part of their mandate to remove carcasses they find on the road and hand it to their section ranger”.
The following concerns were raised and were left unanswered by SANParks
1. Why was a post-mortem not conducted?
2. The wounds on the impala suggested a kill by a leopard. How did the employees then decide that it was roadkill?
3. SANParks advocates people not interfering with nature. Why then was the carcass picked up from the side of the road and not left to decompose or be food for animals like a leopard?
4. What happened to the carcass of the animal after it went to the station ranger at Satara?
5. What would have happened if the leopard had returned to the scene?
6. Why was a taxi used, and not an official SANParks vehicle?
https://lowvelder.co.za/487282/watch-sa ... ala-video/
