Photo above is not the actual elephants from the Thula Thula Private Game Reserve
With the recent news that WAN reported earlier today about a field ranger that was tragically killed in South Africa, we are pleased to report the arrest of 6 poachers in a separate incident that occurred over the weekend.
Authorities are still looking for a poacher that they believe was apart of the group that was just arrested.
According to Zululand Observer, 8-9 poachers entered the Thula Thula Private Game Reserve in Ntambana Saturday night by cutting through the security fence.
It is believed that they were looking for the reserve’s herd of elephants. Unfortunately they killed two nyala and impala but we can not express how relieved we were to hear that they were not successful in reaching the elephants.
The incident began when the Thula Thula’s Anti-Poaching Unit were conducting their nightly patrol on foot, when they heard gunshots around 10:30pm.
They began tracking in the direction of the gunshot, when suddenly they heard a second gunshot following a herd of elephants trumpeting and running near by.
APU called for backup and finally came across the poachers who opened fire on them, to which APU returned fire. One poacher was taken to Ngwelezana Hospital due to his injuries while remaining under police guard.
WAN praises the diligent work by APU, Security4U, Rhino 9 Intelligence, and Empangeni’s Task Team, who made five more arrests yesterday afternoon, while also recovering two firearms and poaching equipment at the scene.
