Concerned Rietvlei residents held an urgent meeting on Saturday to discuss the future of the rhinos in the Rietvlei reserve after two of the animals were poached this week.
It later emerged that one of the rhinos was pregnant and that the poachers hit the unborn calf when they shot the mother on Thursday.
The reserve has been closed indefinitely until an investigation by the Hawks has been completed.
During the meeting on Saturday morning, it emerged that the reserve security was seriously understaffed.
The number of security staff and rhinos left at Rietvlei were not disclosed for security reasons.
Meyer Pheiffer, head of the Lyttelton sector 6 community policing forum, chaired the meeting.
He said the state of affairs at Rietvlei were worrying.
“Just last Wednesday night at 23:30 I drove past one of the gates of the reserve and it was standing wide open,” he said.
“This is unacceptable. That is how poachers get in and things like this killing happen.”
According to Pheiffer, the Tshwane metro had been warned about the lack of security at the reserve prior to the recent poaching.
He said representatives from the Tshwane metro were invited to attend the meeting, but no one showed up.
“We have arranged with the new management of the reserve to hold a follow-up meeting with them and officials from the metro to discuss options on the way forward.”
During the meeting, it was suggested that the reserve be taken out of the municipality’s hands and be entrusted to a private institution or SANParks to manage.
This idea was still to be discussed with the metro and SANParks.
Pheiffer lauded the work already being done by the honorary rangers of Rietvlei, the Lyttelton police and volunteers to patrol the reserve.
More meetings to discuss ways to protect the rhinos are scheduled for the coming week.
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.
