Elephant tusks seized in Pretoria
Elephant tusks worth an estimated R4 million were confiscated in Derdepoort on Wednesday.
Andrea Küsel
Elephant tusks worth about R4 million were seized on business premises in Derdepoort, north of Pretoria, on Wednesday, the Hawks special detective unit said.
Spokesperson Major Robert Netshiunda said on Thursday it was not immediately clear who the owner of the 26 tusks was.
“We are continuing investigations to establish who the tusks belong to and where the business got them from. No arrests were made.”
Netshiunda declined to elaborate.
Paul O’Sullivan, a forensic investigator at O’Sullivan and Associates, named the company raided as Big Buck Taxidermy.
O’Sullivan said six of the tusks seemed to have been recently removed from elephants, while the others appeared to be much older.
SANParks spokesperson Reynold Thakhuli would not speculate whether the discovery was linked to the recent killing of an elephant which was smeared with poison, seemingly to kill scavengers.
Two lions and hundreds of vultures have died from feeding on the poisoned carcass.
Thakuli said poaching was a major problem in general and that the Kruger National Park was on high alert at all times.
“Poaching is a war that we’ll never win alone in the bush. We’re calling on all citizens to contact law enforcement agencies when they have any information on illegal poaching activities.”
He said this was the second time an elephant died as a result of poaching since December last year.
Also read:
Two lions, 110 vultures poisoned at S.Africa’s Kruger park
Cops caught in anti-poaching bust
Ten in court over rhino poaching
Two Zimbabwe locals appeared in court for poaching Cecil the lion
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
- We have exciting news! We’re offering a free alert to help you always be in the loop. Send an email with the word ‘Subscribe’ to breakingnews@rekord.co.za to receive your free daily breaking news update.
