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The good news: Four men were arrested after a vehicle inspection yielded two recently butchered rhino horns and a .303 rifle. The bad news: KwaZulu Natal has now lost 19 rhino to poachers this year.

Thanks to quick action by Ezemvelo KwaZulu Natal Wildlife (EKZNW) field rangers, there are four less poachers in the region. Upon hearing a single gunshot in the Makhamisa area of the Imfolozi section, EKZNW field rangers acted immediately with Imfolozi management and police to set up a roadblock that led to the arrests.

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In today’s Independent Online, Sifiso Kheswa, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife acting director of biodiversity conservation, described how the poachers were apprehended.

Assisted by [police], a roadblock was quickly set up. At 7pm, a vehicle carrying four men approached and tried to avoid the roadblock, but was stopped.

While inspecting the interior of the vehicle by torchlight the officers found a .303 rifle and it was noticed that some of the men in the vehicle had blood-stains on their clothing. An inspection of the load-bin of the vehicle revealed two freshly removed rhino horns. The occupants of the vehicle were immediately arrested and taken into custody.

Sadly, on Thursday morning an aerial inspection of the area turned up the body of a white rhino near the northern bank of he White Umfolozi River in the Zigubeni area.

Despite the fact that the rhino murders in KZN this year now stand at 19, Kheswa is hopeful these arrests will give authorities the upper hand in the region.

We are very pleased with these arrests … This is a major breakthrough for us, and we are hoping that it leads to a great many more arrests.

Earlier this month, The Zululand Observer reported four men and a woman of Chinese origin from Ulundi were arrested for illegally entering the Opathe game reserve, where at least 11 rhino have been poached this year.

Let’s hope these murderers receive the maximum penalties for their shameful environmental crimes.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com / CC BY 2.0

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