African Outfitter is an independent international bimonthly publication promoting
fair hunting and ethical business practices within the hunting industry.
From a hunting perspective, the preservation of biodiversity on the
African continent is the first and foremost priority. The emphasis
is however also on the sustainable utilisation of wildlife.
Poaching in the Kruger and elsewhere in Africa
by By Dr. Mauritz Coetzee
During the last two months South African newspapers have reported extensively on the poaching problem in South Africa and especially in countries like Congo and Zimbabwe.
The Pretoria News of 10 November 2005, for example, gave broad coverage to the wholesale slaughter of hippos in the Congo. According to the report the world's largest hippo population has been poached to the extent that only about 800 hippos are still left in the Virunga National Park in north-eastern Congo.
This implies that around 28 000 hippos have been killed in the last 25 years in this national park. The local population is however only partly involved in the slaughter of these animals. Thousands of Hutu rebels are believed to have fled from neighbouring Rwanda and hiding in the Virunga National Park. The sad reality of this volatile situation is that the hippos are being killed with automatic rifles used in the civil war in Rwanda and even with rocket launchers.
The situation in Zimbabwe is common knowledge ever since Robert Mugabe's land grabbing scheme began. Thousands of impala, kudu, sable, giraffe, buffalo and elephant have fallen prey to the snares and shooting from poacher rifles.
In South Africa the Mkuze area in KwaZulu-Natal has become the Mecca of poaching. Carte Blanche, the M-Net actuality programme, has also given extensive coverage to the ever-increasing poaching problem there. Apart from this the poaching of especially white rhino in the Kruger National Park has increased substantially during the latter half of 2005.
As with everything else in life people, including hunters and conservationists, are so caught up in the struggles of everyday life that they hardly ever become involved in the poaching problem, irrespective of the broad media coverage thereof.
Early in December 2005, I was contacted by a close friend and game warden, Donald Sutton. Apart from being a seasoned game guide in many of the larger game parks in South Africa, Donald is also involved with the North West Parks and Tourism Board's anti-poaching unit.
Based upon the information Donald conveyed we decided to meet. The reason for this was simply to enable me to study photographs taken by Donald's team in one of the smaller reserves 60 kilometres from Brits. It turned out that poaching has became such a problem in this reserve that a decision was made for the anti-poaching unit to became actively involved in order to try and solve the problem.
The waterbuck cow shown in the photographs was found lying down in a mud-hole in this reserve. As members of the anti-poaching unit approached her she initially made no attempt to stand up. Their first impressions were that she was simply sick or had some type of infection. The lump shown on the photo of the cow lying down suggested a more sinister cause.
This lump can be clearly seen below the cow's right hip. The real suffering of the poor animal became evident when she finally managed to stand up. The lower left leg was extremely swollen. After some deliberation by the unit it was decided to put the animal down.
It is impossible to even try and imagine the suffering this poor animal had to endure. The infection process must have taken weeks to develop into the shocking condition she was in when finally found by the anti-poaching unit. It was also quite obvious that she tried to walk with the infected leg before she finally gave up.
African Outfitter decided to publish these very graphic photographs as a wake-up call to everybody involved in the wildlife industry. Judged by the ever-increasing incidents of poaching around the country and in our national parks, a drastic and quick solution is needed to protect the animals and especially the future of certain species on the African continent.
