The Finale roar
On Thursday, April 12, one lion was dispatched by LEDET officials, and the body of the animal taken to Finale village to prove the killing to the community. It is reported that the lion's body was later taken to the Royal Kraal of Chief Induna Matene, chopped into pieces and residents rejoiced in the killing by feasting on the lion.
A lion was shot by Nature Conservation Officials just outside the village of Finale close to The Oaks on Thursday, April 12 and later eaten by community members in celebration of its death.
This after an ongoing struggle between the local community, Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism Limpopo (LEDET / Nature Conservation) and managers of privately owned nature reserves bordering the village.
It is reported that rogue lions have been traversing the area for some months and villagers believe they have lost a lot of livestock due to the rogue predators.
According to one Finale community member, who wishes to remain anonymous, as many as 32 cattle carcasses have been found and many other cattle are reported missing.
It is alleged that the community reported their issue to their local Kings and Chiefs, SPCA, Nature Conservation as well as other relevant stakeholders, but their concerns were not listened to until the community started taking matters into their own hands and made attempts to catch and kill the ‘terror’ predators themselves.
The community made it their mission to kill all predators in the area and some members proudly posted a photo of a leopard they had killed on social media with names of the alleged perpetrators.
When asked about these actions, the anonymous Finale resident said, “We don’t even care if it is illegal. We asked for help and the help never came. We don’t want to act after someone is dead.”
Furthermore, allegations of poor performance of LEDET officials were made, “the Hoedspruit Rangers then came to sleep out in the bush in an attempt to kill the lions, but were later found drinking alcohol and visiting girlfriends in the village.”
Read: ‘Poacher’ killed by lions identified
This led community members to believe that the LEDET officials were being bribed by white farmers not to kill the lions.
One post on social media reads, “Today the Hoedspruit Klaserie Rangers were called to kill the remaining lions and leopards, but they refused to do that and some community members believe the Rangers have been bribed by the whites from Hoedspruit which are the owners of the lions so that the lions can start feasting on humans too.”
Villagers then became angry by the actions of the LEDET officials and allege that the community wanted to give special permission for officials from Phalaborwa to take over the task in hand, but were denied.
Local villagers believe there are still as many as eight lions on the loose in the area and believe the lions escaped from Hoedspruit after hearing a rumour that a game reserve in Hoedspruit had reported nine lions missing from their property.
Other social media posts read, “An unconfirmed number of about 20 to 30 lions and leopards have escaped from a nearby game reserve and stormed to the bushes of Finale.”
Contrary to the views held by local community members, managers of surrounding private game reserves told an entirely different story.
Donovan Peel, Reserve Manager of Lissataba Nature Reserve, informed the HERALD, “Nature Conservation have been handling the situation well, regularly going into the villages, also sending tracking dogs and even using a helicopter to try and locate the lions.”
Read: GEORGE’S VALLEY LIONS: The facts!
The community have been seeking compensation from the likes of Lissataba Nature Reserve and other reserves bordering the community for their loss of livestock.
However, none of the bordering properties have ever owned a permanent population of lions, they have merely become temporary homes for transient animals originating from the Greater Kruger area.
On Thursday, April 12, one lion was dispatched by LEDET officials, and the body of the animal taken to Finale village to prove the killing to the community.
It is reported that the lion’s body was later taken to the Royal Kraal of Chief Induna Matene, chopped into pieces and residents rejoiced in the killing by feasting on the lion.
HOEDSPRUIT HERALD made contact with Drew Abrahamson, CEO of Captured in Africa Foundation and one of the founders of K9s for Big Cats for comment. Abrahamson expressed her concerns over the situation as a whole, “Has anyone confirmed that it was lions that killed the cattle? And more over, can anyone prove that it was that particular lion that was responsible? You just can’t take that approach, shooting any lion without proof that it was responsible.”
Read: No arrest after lions were mutilated outside Tzaneen
Furthermore, it is reported an offer was made to fund the erection of a cattle kraal for the community, but the community refused the offer.
At the time of going to press, HERALD was unable to obtain comment from LEDET on the matter.
