WARNING: Graphic pics – ‘Her eyes were hacked out’
A local game ranch owner has lost more than 100 animals to poachers.
POACHING has become so bad at an Izongolweni game ranch that the owner has now taken to sleeping in the bush at night to protect his stock.
And he is not alone.
Hunters and their dogs plunder farms with abandon and more than 1 000 cases reported to police in recent years have shown little, if any results.
Even when poachers are caught – in the act – by farmers themselves on rare occasions, they are released due to lack of evidence.
Farmer Mias Venter once proudly boasted that his Nyamazame Ranch would be a great tourist attraction for the South Coast and create many jobs.
Poaching is now killing the dream.
Mr Venter said there had been very little help from police or senior community members, so he had to put his own life on the line by sleeping in the bush to protect his stock.
The passionate game farmer took over in 2011 and introduced many animals to the area, which brought in tourists and created employment. However, it has been an uphill battle and he has had to open more than 1 000 cases of theft.
In a recent poaching attack, Mr Venter lost an eland, a nyala, a porcupine, two blue duiker, an ostrich, a wildebeest and three warthogs valued at R70 000.
He and his rangers tried their best to patrol and guard the boundary fences, especially on the northern side.
“On one occasion, we spotted several men with their hunting dogs. They cut the fence and then fled when they saw us approaching,” said Mr Venter.
However, a 19-year-old suspect was not so lucky. He ran into a thorny bush and was arrested.
The teenager was handed over to police and he soon spilled the beans on his accomplices. Police arrested six more suspects.
They appeared in the Izingolweni Court and were released due to lack of evidence, police spokesman Captain Gerald Mfeka confirmed.
“It’s an ongoing problem and poachers mostly attack at night,” said Mr Venter.
They chase the animals into dams or into boundary fences where they will slaughter them for the meat, using knobkerries or pangas – Mias Venter
He said he had lost about 100 animals in five years, most of them killed brutally.
In one attack, a wildebeest was chased into a dam and surrounded by the hunting dogs and poachers.
It grew tired and was forced to come out to face a gruesome death.
“Her eyes were hacked out and, once she was blinded, the poachers slaughtered her.”
Mr Venter said he would like to see that more policing and enforcement of the law.
Protected animals which include blue duiker, oribi and reedbuck were killed everywhere and not only on Mr Venter’s farm.
“Many have opened cases, but few make it to court due to lack of evidence,” he said.
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