THE year-old black rhino calf which was orphaned when poachers brutally slaughtered its mother at Kwantu Game Reserve over the Easter weekend has been killed by lions.

The calf’s tragic death came only three days after the 14-year-old mother was found shot during the early hours of Saturday, about a kilometre from the reserve’s fence, with its horns hacked off.

The calf, which managed to escape during the attack, was found dead in the bush by patrolling rangers on Monday morning.

Kwantu Wildlife Manager William Hofmeyr said rangers had been tracking the calf when they stumbled on a pride of lions feeding on the carcass.

“We were going to capture it and do a full health assessment, as well as place it in a boma where it could feed, so we could monitor it and keep it safe from roaming predators,” he said.

“The lions found the stray wandering in the bush and, like any predator, attacked it.

“The sad thing is it shows the poachers didn’t only kill the mother, but indirectly killed the calf as well.”

Wildlife expert and Shamwari vet Dr Johan Joubert said the calf’s age would have made it very difficult to rear by hand.

“It was inevitable a predator would kill it, but if the mother was alive, chances are it would not have happened,” he said.

The poaching incident was the fifth in the Eastern Cape over the past 16 months and the second at Kwantu Game Reserve in just over a year.

Fearing another incident, the Green Scorpions have placed all game reserves in the province on high alert. The rhino horns taken from the cow are estimated to be worth R700000 on the black market.

According to a study by international conservation group Traffic, rhino poaching is at its worst in 15 years, with 95% of poaching incidents happening in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

 

 

 

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