The unbridled poaching of wild animals in the Manyeleti Game Reserve has gotten out of hand and drastic steps must urgently be taken to put a stop to it.
The FF Plus viewed shocking video footage taken of a male leopard with a cable snare abound its body in this Big-Five Reserve.
The snare had drawn so tight that it left a deep, large, gaping wound all the way around its body.
This is not the first animal caught in a snare in this Reserve. Snares must frequently be removed from lions and hyenas.
The fence between the Reserve and the surrounding local community is in a terrible condition, and poachers simply walk into the Reserve with their hunting dogs.
The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) conducts nearly no anti-poaching operations during the night.
In an official letter to the MEC for Tourism and Economic Development, Ms Nompumeleleo Hlophe, the FF Plus posed pertinent questions about anti-poaching initiatives and also requested an urgent meeting with her.
The policing of game and poaching must be intensified. A permanent anti-poaching unit that patrols day and night must also be established.
Action must be taken at once, because in a decade’s time and at the current rate of poaching, there will be very little left of many of the species in Manyeleti, which borders on the Kruger National Park.
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