FARM workers were caught boiling an African Rock Python in Entumeni, outside eShowe.
The snake was skinned and gutted and they were cooking it when found.
The case was reported to the eShowe Police Station.
The incident was investigated after a report was received from the district Farm Watch unit, who reacted on information from their informers.
The scene was also attended by the Officer-in-Charge, Ntumeni Forest Reserve.
Five people were found with the African Rock Python and they were charged under the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) of 2004 section 56 and 57 which states, ‘No person may kill or destroy a special protected species’.
Farmers are becoming more and more frustrated as law enforcement agencies continue to ignore the poaching of small game.
While rhino and other threatened species are receiving attention; antelope and other small game are not seen to be a problem and poaching continues unabated.
Much education regarding snakes needs to be done if the African Rock Python and other snakes such as the Gaboon Adder are to be saved.
The Gaboon Adder (Bitis gabonica), the African Rock Python (Python natalensis) and the Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) are listed as protected on the Threatened or Protected Species (ToPS) list.
Unfortunately, for many people, snakes are seen as vermin and a threat to life and are killed.
Body parts are also often used for ‘muti’.
It is because of these deep-rooted beliefs that many of the country’s endangered animals are threatened.
One does not have to think much further than the slaughter of the rhino populations or plight of most species of vultures to realise that this is not only a South African or African problem.
Animals have been used all over the world for medicine and this has brought many species to either the brink of extinction or the species have been lost forever.
Small antelope
But most farmers are not affected by these major poaching incidents unless they have these species on a game farm or ranch.
The average farmers are faced with the hunting of duiker, oribi and other small antelope, mostly with packs of dogs.
Unfortunately, while the dogs may be under the control of the owners, they do bring with them the fear of rabies as many of these dogs are not vaccinated against the disease.
Many farmers have also experienced groups of trespassing poachers with fire arms, which has its own set of dangers, from the loss of livestock to innocent persons on the farms being at risk.
Removing snares and gin traps is also an on-going operation.
Marine life
Fish in farm dams are also being targeted with make-shift boats and highly effective gill nets.
Not many marine animals can evade the gill nets with large and small fish being removed at one time, cleaning out the dams of all fish.
While this poaching is often justified by ‘the poachers are starving and need to feed their families’, it is nevertheless a crime and needs to be curbed, if there is to be any wildlife left outside protected game reserves.
Farmers call on all law enforcement agencies, from the police, to the prosecutors to the magistrates to tackle poaching on a united front and support the farmers by enforcing the regulations and laws pertaining to the NEMBA and ToPS.
